Star Crossed Lovers
by KatieBoyle
Summary: As cliché as it sounds, there were so many similarities between the story of Romeo and Juliet and their own story. Not in the sense of familial feuding but their love was frowned upon. Their love though forbidden, was epic. Alternate season 2 and 3.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm new to Make it or Break it fanfiction but this is just a little something I've been playing with….**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Star-Crossed Lovers**

Payson Keeler was the little engine that could. She had overcome absolutely everything in her path. Nothing could stop her from being great. However, she wouldn't lie and say it had been easy because it hadn't; coming back from a back injury that should've ended her career, sure as hell wasn't easy. Neither was knowing that it your fault that your family was in financial difficulties because of an experimental surgery that gave you back your dream. Neither was dealing with the fallout of kissing your coach and the entire world finding out. Neither was having to completely change your style of gymnastics because your body had change during your brief sabbatical from gymnastics. Neither was dealing with Ellen Beals on a daily basis. But at the end of the day she'd climbed those mountains and forded those streams. Payson Keeler was like rubber; she bounced back.

Today she was just having one of those days. Everything that could go wrong was going wrong. There had literally been no food in her house this morning, no eggs, no milk, no fruit. Her breakfast had consisted of a few fistfuls of dry cereal and a glass of water. There had been no hot water when she decided to shower. Then to make matters worse she had decided to walk to The Rock rather than wait for her mom and it had rained, had it not been for her umbrella she would've arrived at the gym looking like a drowned, frizzy, angry kitten. So it was just not her day.

She had spent the majority of the morning, after conditioning, try to nail an amanar on vault. No matter how hard she tried she kept over rotating and face-planting in the middle of the mat. She almost felt like she was regressing; it was infuriating and irritating and it made her want to hit something or someone.

One of her greatest strengths and indeed weaknesses was that she was slow to give up. Sometimes she just wasn't able to take a step back and see the bigger picture and that was the weakness side of it. However, it most certainly was a strength her tenacity and commitment usually paid off. For some reason it didn't seem like it would today.

The gym was quiet. Only a few gymnasts were still around, most of them were taking a well deserved lunch break. Payson preferred it like this, especially in her current state. She would like to avoid everyone seeing her fail, if at all possible.

She could feel a stare burning into the back of her skull as she prepared to start her run. She ignored it and the uneasy feeling it gave her. She blocked it out there was no room for emotions in her performance. She rocked up on to her tiptoes before taking off in the direction of the vault. As her feet hit the spring board, she could feel that it was wrong, she was going to land face first on the mat, again. However, not one to give up, she put her arms out in an attempt to salvage her vault but to no avail.

She picked herself up off the floor. What the hell was wrong with her? She swore under her breath and glared at a spot on the wall with such ferocity an on looker would assume that the slight stain had caused her some grievous harm.

"You need to take a break Payson," Sasha said from behind her. Payson spun around to look at the tall blond. He stood there in a navy polo neck t-shirt looking like a Greek god. Even with the strained expression on his face he looked glorious. Payson immediately erased that thought from her mind. She needed to stop thinking about Sasha in any way that wasn't normal or acceptable between a gymnast and a coach.

"I want to nail this. I'm going to nail this," she replied, still scowling.

"And you will, if you take a break. Right now, you're a walking, talking ball of emotion and frustration. Go calm down and eat something and come back when you're ready to focus."

"I'm going to nail this and then I'll take a break."

"As you wish Payson but be aware that you are getting progressively worse." Payson sensed that Sasha was pissed off, normally he would have called her on her insubordination by now that was probably to come.

If there was one thing Payson Keeler liked it was being right. By proxy therefore, she also liked proving people wrong. She'd done it with her back injury and she was planning to do it again momentarily. However, she knew she could only push Sasha so far and she didn't want him to snap. So she decided to ask permission.

"One more time and then I'll go?" she asked.

"I'm not going to kick out of the gym Payson but I would recommend that you follow my advice." Payson took that to mean 'yeah sure'.

She positioned herself at the end of the run way, she closed her eyes and visualised the vault and she went for it. When her feet hit the spring board this time it felt right. She completed the vault perfectly. The landing was messy though, she had to take a large step to steady herself but at least it was an improvement.

"Now please go and take a lunch break Payson," he said, the irritation clear in his voice. She wasn't sure what exactly inspired her but as she left she gave him a mock salute. Payson was fairly sure he chuckled as she left.

She wasn't quite sure where all of her confidence had come from there. It was like she was channelling Emily's stubbornness and Lauren's cheekiness. Sasha Belov messed with her head!

OOO

On any normal day Payson would've been ecstatic she had pretty much mastered the amanar on vault, a vault that would make her D-score one of the highest at the twenty twelve Olympics. She should have felt satisfied and content. Instead she felt empty; like something was missing. Her head was a mess; she couldn't get Sasha out of her mind. Ever since their kiss after she finally nailed her floor routine she hadn't been able to get him out of her head. Sure Sasha had pushed her away but that didn't stop the images from plauging her mind. Payson needed some way to relieve her stress but to do that she had to understand it.

Payson often found when she couldn't find a way to express herself it often helped to set it down on paper. She sat in the centre of her bed and opened her journal. She didn't use it that often so not too many of the pages were filled by her neat writing. Payson leaned over and grabbed her favourite black pen off her night stand.

She ran her hand over the page and then ran it through her hair. This was always the hardest part; starting to write, getting the flow going. She decided to start by writing the date in the centre of the first line '02.10.11'. Below it she wrote her title: 'Reasons I Can't Have a Crush on Sasha Belov'

1. He's my coach

2. People already accuse him of favouritism

3. The age gap

4. My mom's reaction

5. My dad's reaction

6. If it didn't work out it would be really awkward to have him coach me

7. HE'S MY COACH!

8. He doesn't feel the same way

She stared down at the neat list she had just written, despite the coherent argument she had made she wasn't completely convinced that she could never be with Sasha. Payson sighed and closed her journal; she knew that now was not the time to even entertain this in her head. The Olympics was less than a year away. She needed to focus on nationals and trials not Sasha Belov. This mess could wait until after a gold all-around medal hung around her neck. Winning was her first priority, everything else could wait.

***Slight change as ofthe 28/05/12 in the second section in case you're confused.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**AN: I am aware that I have not updated this in ages.**

**This is a more gymnastically factual rewrite of what they showed in season 2/ season 3. **

**In my mind Payson is 17 at this point but she will be 18 when the team arrives in London. Therefore she is only in her second year of competition as a senior gymnast. Also Payson's petition onto the national team was successful.**

Payson Keeler finished packing her suitcase. She was Karolyi Ranch bound this morning. She was excited and nervous. It wouldn't be her first time at the ranch she had attended two junior Pan American cup selection camps there as well as a senior Pacific Rim Championship selection camp and monthly team training camps. This time however she was attending the world team selection camp.

She had been invited to the same camp last year but she'd had to pull out due to her back injury. If only she'd known at the time that simply resting her back was going to make very little difference, she'd have taken more affirmative action. That back injury had almost ended her career and nearly snatched away her dreams of competing in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Payson sighed; she really wanted to impress Marta Karolyi, who was head of the selection committee. Marta was going to be the woman who on June 10th 2012 would pick the Olympic team. A team she very much wanted to be a part of. At the same time however, she wasn't exactly happy about not seeing one Sasha Belov for an entire week. On one hand, she was happy to be away from him, out of sight and out of mind. On the other hand though, she'd miss him terribly. Once again she reminded herself to focus.

All thoughts of Sasha Belov cleared from her mind Payson descended the stairs with her small, purple suitcase in tow.

OOO

Kim Keeler sat in her car, parked just outside of the Cruz mansion. She was waiting for Payson to return with Kaylie. She had agreed to drop Kaylie to the airport with Payson, Ronnie was busy and Alex was out of town. Kim didn't mind it at all, however, she was beginning to get worried that the girls would miss their flight if they didn't leave soon. Just as Kim was preparing to go in and hurry the two along, Kaylie emerged with a large pink suitcase and a matching duffle bag. Payson trailed behind Kaylie, looking frustrated. Kim guessed that Payson too had been watching the clock. Kim got out of the car and helped Kaylie to squeeze her suitcase into the trunk. After about a minute of manipulation of Payson's gym bag and suitcase, they got the trunk to close. They all climbed into Kim's car and were on their way.

The girls were due to fly out of Denver airport at one pm. it was currently ten thirty, meaning that Kim would have to hope that there wasn't too much traffic on the roads. Payson and Kaylie were sitting in the back, Kaylie was chattering away about something Austin Tucker had done while Payson stared unseeingly out the window. Kaylie however didn't seem to notice or didn't care about Payson's seeming disinterest in the subject at hand; she was content just to rant.

That was how the entire car ride played out. Payson was detached, Kaylie was pissed at Austin and Kim kept a careful eye on the road and on their speed. They were lucky with the traffic, having missed the early morning rush and having left before lunchtime. They arrived at the airport at quarter to twelve and Kim helped the girls to wrestle their suitcases out of the tightly packed trunk.

She walked them both to the glass doors of the airport terminal. "Thanks for the lift Mrs. Keeler," Kaylie said, smiling her signature smile that made Kim smile back. Kim accepted her words of thanks but assure the teenage gymnast that it had been no hassle. Kaylie, under the pretence of having seen Lauren, departed to give Payson and Kim some privacy.

Kim smiled down at her seventeen year-old daughter. It shocked her just how quickly she'd grown up. "Pay," she said, ignoring the lump forming in her throat, "no matter what happens at selection camp, I'm really proud of you. You've been through so much in the past few months, go and enjoy yourself."

"Thanks mom," Payson replied, dropping her gym bag and hugging her mom. She had seen the emotion in her mother's eyes and she didn't know what to do. She felt a strong urge to cry but she was Payson Keeler and she didn't cry (well not often). While she wanted to spend longer in her mother's embrace, she had a plane to catch. She pulled away and smiled once more at her mom. "I love you," she said, crouching down to retrieve her duffle bag.

"I love you too Pay. Now be careful and make sure don't miss your flight."

"I won't," she assured her mom. "Bye, see you next Sunday."

"Are you sure you have everything you need?" Kim asked.

"Yes mom I'm sure, it's all here."

"Well if you're sure Pay. Good bye, be good and I'll be here at the airport to pick you up Sunday night."

"I love you mom and I'll miss you. Bye," she said before proceeding through the glass doors to check in. Payson didn't turn around to see a silent tear roll slowly down her mother's face.

She spotted Kaylie queuing at a desk behind a tall brunette. Lauren Tanner however, was nowhere to be seen. Payson rushed over to join her. "Where's Lauren?" Payson asked her, searching in her duffle to find her ticket.

"Huh?" Kaylie responded not really paying attention.

"Lauren Tanner? Blond hair, yay high, affectionately known as 'bitch of the beam'"

"She's not here yet."

"I thought you said you saw her?"

"I was giving you and your mom some space, sometimes you're very unobservant Payson Keeler."

OOO

It took Lauren, Payson and Kaylie two and a half hours to reach Houston on the plane. All of them were still a little rocked by the news they'd received from Emily by text stating that she was pulling out of selection camps because her brother was ill. Brian had been taken to hospital the night before because he kept seizing, even though he'd taken his medication. Emily refused to leave him and their mother when he was like this, she didn't care of this compromised her chance of making the Olympic team in June, family came first.

The flight had been comfortable enough except for some minor turbulence and the girls were all tired and emotionally drained when they touched down in George Bush Intercontinental Airport. It was four o'clock by the time they'd made it through baggage reclaim and security.

They were met at the entrance to the airport by Marty who was involved in the selection camp. He'd been dispatched to collect the three girls and bring them back to the Ranch. Payson was still pissed off at Marty, the things he'd said when he'd abandoned the Rock earlier that year, still, at least they knew the person who was bringing them to camp. They could all openly ignore Marty, there was no small talk requirement like there might have been with someone they didn't know. Then Payson thought of Kaylie. This had to be really awkward for her, being in a confined space with a man who was a catalyst for the destruction of her parents' marriage.

Once again, Payson sighed. If only Sasha had been given the coaching job over Marty!

**AN: Thoughts? **

**My exams finish on Wednesday so if you want to read more just review and I'll update by Thursday.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**AN: Its later than planned, I apologise. It was my birthday on Saturday and I've been celebrating.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MIOBI**

World team selection camp was gruelling. The gym at the Karolyi Ranch was filled with fifteen national team members (Emily had pulled out) plus Payson, who'd successfully petitioned onto the team, each trying to outdo each other. There were two teams being chosen, the Pan American Cup team and the World Championship team. Without a doubt the World Championship team was the team that everyone wanted to be a part of. There was stiff competition from all sides, for example, four former Olympians were in attendance: Bridget Sloan, Chellsie Memmel, Alicia Sacramone and the Olympic all-around silver medallist Shawn Johnson. On top of that, Kelly Parker, the reigning world champion and Kaylie, the national champion, were also vying for a spot on the team. If that wasn't enough, the rest of the national team in attendance were giving everything they had.

Payson Keeler found the camp trying yet satisfying, she was being given the opportunity to prove to Marta Karolyi that she deserved to be a part of this senior national team and that she had recovered from her injury and had come back stronger. She had gained artistry and over the past five months she had managed to regain quite a few of her old power moves. Payson was most excited by her ability to master the amanar vault which had a 6.5 start value, seven tenths higher than the double-twisting-Yurchenko performed by most gymnasts in competition. Kaylie had the same vault but her execution was often sloppy. Payson, on the other hand, had spent the last month tweaking and perfecting her amanar, hoping that it and her floor would make her stand out at these trials.

The girls were up each morning at five, when they went for a run for an hour. They had ten minutes to change out of their now sweaty workout clothes and let their heart rate and breathing rate return to normal. Afterwards they had half an hour to get breakfast. Breakfast was a quiet affair on average; most girls were still waking up, most noticeably Kelly Parker, who often lay her head down on her table for a quick nap instead of hurling insults in Payson's direction. Kaylie on the other hand tried to talk as much as possible, in an effort to distract attention away from the food she was eating (or more accurately not eating). This had not escaped Payson's notice, she had asked Kaylie about it one night in the room the two were sharing in one of the cabins, Kaylie merely brushed her off. This disturbed Payson, she decided to keep an eye on Kaylie.

After breakfast the girls headed to the gym where they did an hour and a half of tough warm ups and conditioning, designed to improve their strength, power and stamina. Payson took pleasure from the difficult nature of these exercises, understanding that they were what were going to help her improve and hopefully make the Olympic team in just under a year.

Training followed conditioning, every girl trained with a partner. Payson had been put with Alexandra Raisman or Aly as she preferred to be called, a pretty brunette who excelled on the floor and on balance beam. Her area of weakness was without a doubt the uneven bars; she rarely made it through a routine without some kind of mistake, many of them major. Payson thought that she had a good chance of making the team but hoped that if she did that Marta would not let her compete on uneven bars where she would probably be a liability. On the whole, Aly reminded Payson of Kaylie; she was cheery and likeable with the type of personality that was sure to win the hearts of the crowds.

Payson found Aly to be a good training partner, she had help Payson with her balance beam routine immensely. Payson was now sticking her Patterson dismount nine out of ten times. With this particular dismount secure (the highest in the code of points) Payson's start value was now a 6.1. It was still five tenths of a point behind Lauren's but Payson was still finding her feet in the sport and she hoped that by the time trials came along her D-score would be able to compete with the likes of Lauren's and Aly's.

In return, Payson had been trying to help Aly with her bars, however, if the had made any progress Payson couldn't pin point it. Aly still struggled with her release moves and had many breaks in form through out what wasn't a hugely difficult routine. The only small victory was that Aly seemed to fall less.

Kaylie had been training with Lauren; the two had been getting on fine of late. All Carter issues had blown over as Kaylie was now besotted with Olympic gold medallist Austin Tucker. Even Payson had to admit that Austin was a step up from Carter Anderson. However, she didn't approve of Kaylie's choice to once again flout the Rock rules. She couldn't understand why Kaylie insisted on having a boyfriend they were, after all, distractions. Boys their age were just too immature. If Payson was going to be interested in anyone they would have to be older because immaturity was not something she could stand.

Payson was up on bars now, Bela Karolyi was spotting her. She saluted confidently and turned her attention to the apparatus before her. The spring board was in place so she mounted the bars, she performed her routine beautifully; hitting the handstand position perfectly every time and avoiding any form breaks. She didn't even struggle with her piked stalder Shaposhnikova, which was an E level skill, which she connected to a Pak salto, a D level skill, both of which were new additions to her routine. Even her Tkachev was beautiful and that was an element she'd been struggling to regain on bars. Her landing was good, a little low perhaps but Payson managed to stick it without as much as a step.

She beamed as she saluted the imaginary judges. Bela clapped her on the back and from across the gym Marta Karolyi smiled. Final decisions on teams would be made on Friday when the girls competed again but as far as Marta was concerned Payson filled a gaping hole. Team USA were weak on bars, with a 7.0 start value and what would be a high execution score, Payson was the exception to that rule. Marta was thrilled that she had approved Payson's petition onto the team, in the beginning she had been doubtful that Payson would return to the standard she had been at before the injury. Marta Karolyi hated to be wrong but Payson over the course of the last three days _had_ proved her wrong. She was now sure that Payson Keeler deserved her spot on the team. She silently mused that if Payson were to be consistent in competition, she could very well win the all around title at the Tokyo World Championships.

Marta turned back to Lauren, who was struggling with her Arabian punch front on floor. At this point, World Trials on Friday were merely a formality for Payson Keeler. She would be travelling to Tokyo to represent the United States in the 2011 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. Marta was hopeful that this year team USA would win the team gold medal.

OOO

Friday morning dawned bright and early, Payson rolled reluctantly out of her bed. She was nervous, excited and terrified, all at the same time. She knew that making the worlds team was the first step towards her dream, winning Olympic gold. Kaylie was gone from the room, a fact which didn't surprise Payson. Payson wasn't sure quite when Kaylie had become such an early riser but her friend had been up earlier than her every day this week.

Payson looked through her neatly folded workout clothes, grabbing a sports bra, tank top and t-shirt. She brought the pile and her toiletry bag with her to the bathroom which was shared between the eight girls in the cabin. The bathroom was almost empty, except for Chellsie Memmel who was brushing her teeth. Chellsie gave her a sort of half wave as she passed, Payson returned said wave. Then she disappeared into one of the cubicles and quickly donned her clothes. She tried to still the butterflies in her stomach, reminding herself that nerves would mess with her performance.

Payson exited the bathroom, Chellsie had left. She lay her bag and half-folded pyjamas down beside one of the sinks. She washed her hands and brushed her teeth before pulling her hair back into a ponytail and twisting it into her signature bun. She applied some moisturiser to her face as she'd noticed that her skin was getting dry. Then she collected all of her stuff and returned to her room.

There was no official run this morning due to the competition, most athletes were planning to take it easy and do a little light training before competing at two. Payson, however, was still going for her hour long run. In Payson's opinion, a run was the best way to settle her growing nerves. She grabbed her iPod from the dresser in her room and exited the cabin.

She put the iPod earphones into her ears and set it to play her running playlist, which was about an hour long. She began to run, setting a steady pace. She was aware that there was no need to sprint; she'd only burn herself out. She followed the path that she knew to be two miles long. She was planning on doing at least eight seven-minute-miles. She wasn't timing herself but that didn't mean she would slack off.

Payson was sweaty and out of breath when she finished her run, she had managed to run just under ten miles, meaning her miles were far closer to six minutes than seven. Payson was pleased, she'd found the run to be freeing. She hated to simply be idle before competition that only made things worse. As far as she was concerned, when she was running or training her worries were pushed to the back of her mind.

Payson walked back to the cabin to change before breakfast. Breakfast was scheduled for half six today, making it twenty minutes later than usual. This gave Payson time to shower, even though she knew she'd be showering again later anyway. She French plaited her semi-damp hair, changed and made her way to breakfast.

The mood at breakfast was different to previous mornings, some girls were jumpy. These were on average the younger, less experienced girls. The older girls with more international experience appeared calm and focused. Payson took one look around and decided to try and emulate the actions of the older and more experienced girls. She took a deep breath and mentally began to run through each of the elements of her beam routine, ignoring the egg white omelette on her plate that was gradually getting colder.

OOO

Kaylie stood beside Payson getting ready in the bathroom but Payson barely registered her presence as she did her make up for the competition. She had already put on her new competition leotard. Her mom had bought for her for Christmas but as of yet Payson hadn't had an occasion to wear it. It was a deep purple with jewel accents that radiated in lines from the neck. It also had a scoop back and the back was also decorated with jewel accents. The sleeves were three-quarter length and it had come with a matching purple scrunchie. Said purple scrunchie was now in Payson's hair surrounding her bun.

She looked in the mirror once more to ensure that she looked all right when her phone vibrated. Payson looked down and picked it up. The text was from Sasha. She didn't know why but the fact that he had sent her a text made her heart beat erratically in her chest. She opened the message. It read: _Go out there and give it your all Payson. Show them why you deserve to make that team._ Payson beamed. She found it incredible that Sasha cared so much about her to send her a personal good luck text. He was so thoughtful, she thought to herself. Then she realised she was slipping. Focus, she reminded herself. Rubbish like this would have to wait until after she'd won Olympic gold.

**AN: Well there you have it…**

**Comments?**

**Any thoughts on Shawn Johnson's retirement? I have to admit I was a bit surprised, I really thought she'd compete at Nationals.**

**Katie x**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Thanks to the arrival of the summer holidays you are receiving a speedy update :)**

**To those of you who review but don't sign in, thanks guys your support is always appreciated. (I can't reply to you directly so I'll answer any questions in the author's note at the end)**

**Quick note: Start values on Payson's routines – BB- 6.1 UB- 7.0 FX-6.4 VT-6.5**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing…**

Payson walked into the gym. She could barely see what was going on around her; nothing was going to break her focus. Nerves were a thing of the past, she'd overcome them this morning. Now she was focusing on her goal – getting a place on the 2011 World Championship team.

Payson made her way to an empty space and began to stretch, preparing for this competition. World trials and any trials at camp were a little strange. They were different from normal meets like National Championships or the US Classic because there was no audience. This was both beneficial and a disadvantage. There were fewer distractions as a result, however, this also meant that it didn't quite mimic what a gymnast would experience when actually competing in a real competition like Worlds or the Pacific Rim Championships. Payson had mixed feelings about this as she felt that Marta and the other NGO members couldn't accurately determine how the gymnasts would hold up in a real competition environment.

Payson unzipped her Rock warm-up jacket and peeled off her tracksuit bottoms. She began to mark through on the floor each of the elements on her beam routine. She was so focused that she didn't even notice Kaylie stumble as she walked into the hall and grab Lauren for support. Nor did she notice Kelly Parker walking tentatively on her injured ankle or Chellsie Memmel having her injured shoulder strapped tightly by the physical therapist. Payson Keeler was in her own world right now, everything around her was mere background noise. These things would have to wait until later; she was completely in Robot Payson mode.

The groups for the first rotation had been announced. There would be four competitors on each apparatus in every rotation. Every girl was competing all around. Payson was in the group beginning her rotation on beam alongside Chellsie Memmel, Colleen Evans and Kelly Parker. Kaylie was beginning her rotation on the uneven bars, while Lauren was competing on floor exercise first.

Payson made her way to the balance beam. She decided to ignore the fact that she was competing on her weakest event first. She was Payson Keeler, she was a future Olympic gold medallist and she would not let something as simple as beginning a competition on balance beam throw her. Payson knew that Marta was looking for consistency; she also knew that balance beam was the area that Marta was most critical of. Beam was seen as the hardest event and Payson felt that if she could nail her beam routine she stood a good chance of impressing Marta Karolyi.

It was Payson's turn to warm up, Marty positioned the spring board for her and she mounted the beam with a double tuck. She ran through her routine. The routine was definitely not perfect; she had a large balance check. It came after her double pirouette, a skill that she'd always struggled with. Her landing was a little shaky too; she landed too close to the beam and took two large steps, both wider than her shoulder, which in competition would correspond to a deduction of six tenths of a point. These were avoidable deductions that she didn't want to have. Overall, however, it _was_ a good routine. Payson, being a perfectionist, was glad that it was only her warm up.

Chellsie Memmel was first up. The former World Champion appeared to struggle a bit with her beam routine. She didn't fall but her landings were tentative and the routine was filled with balance checks. Memmel looked less than pleased when she saluted the judges. They had to wait a while for her score to be announced, a 14.05. Not a bad score but not the kind of score that would make the Olympian standout to Marta.

Kelly Parker was up next. Beam, was without a doubt, Kelly's weakest event. Like Payson she struggled to stay on the four inches of wood. She mounted with a press to handstand mount with her arms by her ears followed by a front aerial walkover. Her aerial cartwheel was shaky and Kelly had to desperately squeeze her toes and move her arms like crazy to stay on the beam. That particular balance check was not pretty and would mean a rather major deduction from the judges. Her switch spilt ring leap was beautiful but her grimace on the landing was obvious for all those watching. Her 1 ½ twisting dismount was simple but well executed. The score that was posted was perhaps a bit generous for a relatively simple routine fraught with difficulties from the offset. Kelly scored 14.461 with a 6.0 difficulty score and an 8.461 execution score. Payson didn't dwell on this however as she was up next.

Marty had the spring board in place. Payson stepped up beside the beam. She smiled and saluted the judges in front of her. She took a deep breath and mentally prepared herself. This was it, as far as she was concerned, this was the time to show Marta that she should be picked for this World Championship team and that she should also be one of the five girls on the Olympic team. She mounted the beam beautifully and performed each skill as if they had been designed for her, which of course this routine had. Her double pirouette was a little shaky but despite that the rest of her routine was perfection. As she landed her Patterson dismount she beamed. The pre-injury Payson Keeler was back with a vengeance.

Payson knew the judges would find places to make deductions. She didn't care however, she was proud of her routine and she reckoned that Marta and Bela Karolyi and maybe even Ellen Beals would be proud of it too. The score was announced and Payson could not suppress the squeal which escaped her mouth. She'd score a 15.289, which meant that she'd gotten a 9.289 for execution. It was incredibly rare to score above a 9.0 for execution on any apparatus except for vault. Payson had a sneaking suspicion that the judges might be overly generous, she'd decided not to care. Right now she needed to focus on her next event, uneven bars.

She took a quick glance up at the scores; Kaylie had scored a 14.230 on uneven bars which was way below average for her. Payson thought this was strange, a score that low considering Kaylie had a 6.5 d-score on bars meant that she most likely had fallen, possibly more than once. Lauren had scored a 14.641 on floor which was average for Lauren. Her sizzle just didn't work as well on floor as I did on beam. McKayla Maroney was leading at the moment after scoring a massive 16.1 on vault. Focus, Payson reminded herself. She couldn't afford to get hung up on who the leaders were or what her teammates were doing. Now was the time to be self-absorbed, later was the time to channel the caring side to her personality.

Once everyone had finished up everyone switched. Payson's group moved to uneven bars. Maroney's group went to balance beam. Kaylie's group proceeded to floor, while Lauren's group made their way to the vault. Once everything had settled down, each girl was given a chance to warm up. Payson's warm up went smoothly enough, she released a little early on the landing however and she nearly ended up off the landing mat.

Her actual routine went well too; once again her landing was a little dodgy. She landed low and took two small steps to steady herself and she had missed a handstand slightly. Payson had admirably recovered from that mishap not letting it affect the succeeding elements. Overall it was another solid routine. She scored a 15.950, a score that put her in the lead at the end of this second rotation. Payson felt however, that if she did make this team her routine would require a lot of work in order to competitive with those of the Russian and Chinese gymnasts who excelled on the uneven bars.

Her floor routine was a little disappointing by Payson's standards. It was something that she and Sasha had been working on tirelessly after her petition was almost denied. Payson had realised just how close she'd come to missing out on worlds and possibly missing out on a chance to compete at Olympic trials. Had the decision be made by Ellen Beals, Payson was sure the petition would not have been granted but Marta obviously saw something that Beals did not when she'd granted the petition. Payson was aware that she needed more artistry in order to increase her d-scores to a level that would make her competitive at world and Olympic trials. As such, she and Sasha had spent months perfecting this floor routine, it was filled with artistry but apparently now that she had a chance to showcase it she botched it.

Payson had scored a 15.110 out of a possible 16.4, which was by any standards a very good score on floor exercise. However, Payson knew that she could've preformed better. Regardless, she was in second place behind Aly Raisman who had yet to compete on bars but this was no consolation to Payson. She was angry at herself. Payson decided that the only safe way to use this anger was to take it out on the vault. She did just this, scoring a 16.050 a score second only to McKayla Maroney the current National Champion on Vault. That made her all around score 62.399, which was a personal best for her, including all the competitions she competed in before her injury. She was set to finish top in this competition. Alicia Sacramone still had to compete on floor but she needed a 16.821 to beat Payson's score and Kaylie who was up on beam needed a 17.345. Neither girl's difficulty score was high enough to achieve these scores even if they both received perfect execution scores. It dawned on Payson; she was finally the top gymnast in the country even if it wasn't an official competition. She felt that she was finally beginning to pay her parents back for the sacrifices they'd made.

Payson turned to watch Kaylie on beam. She'd been underperforming all day. She'd fallen on bars, had a messy landing on vault and her floor routine was less engaging than usual. Of course Payson had been in her robot state for this competition and hadn't noticed any of this. She did however notice how Kaylie was shaky on the balance beam from her mount. She had three major balance checks and fell after her leap series. Kaylie then went on to remount the beam but just as she was preparing to do her side salto tucked she collapsed. Marty caught her before she hit the ground.

Payson was shocked. It took her ten seconds to process what had happened before she ran full speed towards Kaylie. Lauren was doing the same thing. When the reached her, she had come to but she was groggily mumbling nonsense. Payson was terrified for her best friend. She tried to get closer but Kaylie was surrounded by adults, who were trying to check if she was okay. All of Payson's positive emotions pertaining to the day's achievements had vanished. Her emotions were now somewhere between panic and terror.

About twenty minutes later an ambulance arrived and Kaylie was loaded onto a stretcher. Kaylie protested weakly but said protests were ignored. She was carried out of the gym and put into the back of an ambulance. Marty and Ellen Beals went with her. Marta on the other hand excused herself to go call Kaylie's parents.

All of the girls were shocked. It all seemed so sudden. All the girls were sitting around the gym in complete silence. The whole episode was so unexpected. Payson sat beside Lauren, holding the blond girl's hand, while trying desperately not to cry. The assistant coaches didn't know quite what to do, they were shocked themselves. Bela had decided to join Marta in the office on the call to Kaylie's parents.

Everything stayed like that until the telephone call finished and Marta and Bela returned. Marta sent everyone back to their cabins and told them that dinner would be in an hour and that they could all reconvene in the gym after dinner for the announcement of teams. Payson was very irritated by the way she casually brushed over the issue of Kaylie's collapse. She realised that Marta knew no more than the rest of them but a simple acknowledgement of the situation would've been appropriate in Payson's opinion.

Payson followed the other girls back to the cabin; her movements were slow and mechanical. She was still processing all that had happened in the space of a few hours. Emotionally she was a mess, completely inundated with conflicting and confusing emotions. She opened the door to her room. Kaylie's stuff was still there. She closed the door behind her and allowed the silent tears to roll down her face. Payson walked over to Kaylie's neatly made bed, sat down and let go of her emotions. She stopped bottling them up and let them free. The thing most worrying for Payson in this situation was her powerlessness; all she wanted was the ability to do something that could make a difference no matter how small.

Payson stood up and wiped her face with her hands, she decided that she need to change before dinner. So she grabbed a clean hoodie, t-shirt and sweats and pulled them on. She folded her leo, rock jacket and sweats and laid them on her bed. She took a deep breath and reminded herself to be strong. Dinner was in fifteen minutes and she needed to show the rest of the girls that she was confident that Kaylie would be okay. She needed to have faith. Payson had always believed in a higher power and in this time of emotional turmoil she knew that her faith would be the only thing to get her through. Despite knowing she had her faith to lean on during this tough time, she couldn't quash her temptation to ring Sasha Belov and lean on him too.

**AN: That's it for today…**

**Thoughts and comments?**

**Review and the next update will be just as speedy. Reviews make me type faster : P**

**Anybody else excited for Visa Championships (Nationals)? I know I am :)  
>Anybody have any predictions for who's going to medal, all around or in event finals. Anyone who guesses even one medal right gets a preview of the next chapter.<strong>

**Oh and Isabella (you don't sign in so I can't reply directly) Shawn Johnson announced her retirement last Sunday.**

**Katie x**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: And I present you with another fairly speedy update courtesy of the summer holidays.**

**Did anybody else watch Visa Championships (Nationals)? Who do you think will make the Olympic team?**

**Disclaimer: I own **_**nothing**_**.**

The girls reconvened in the gym after dinner. They all sat at the sides, waiting for Marta to speak. Payson was sitting beside Lauren, she had successfully composed herself. The call to Sasha and the text she'd received from Kaylie had reassured her that everything would be alright. She took a deep breath, the events of the day had been unfortunate but she was Payson Keeler and she was going to worlds.

"Girls," Marta said, in her accented English, "you have all tried very hard here today. The team we have picked for the World Championships is the one we feel gives America the best chance of winning team gold. I know you all want to win individual medals but the team must come first." Payson could understand that. It was for that reason that the USA's semi-centralised training system had been set up after the 1996 Olympic Games, in order to produce the strongest US teams. As a result the national team trained at the Karolyi Ranch together once a month so they could all get an idea of how everyone was doing and create bonds with each other. These bonds built a stronger, more united team.

"The girls we have picked for the World team are Payson Keeler, Alexandra Raisman, Kelly Parker, McKayla Maroney, Alicia Sacramone, Lauren Tanner and Kaylie Cruz. We'll pick the alternate nearer to the time. Our non-travelling alternate will be Shawn Johnson." The first feeling Payson felt at hearing her name called was relief, mixed with a little bit of disbelief. The first thing she did was hug Lauren who had also made the team and was sitting next to her. She was shocked that with all that had happened in the last year, she would be part of the US team competing in the World Championships. She also was thrilled that despite Kaylie's accident today in training, she had still been named to the team. Although Payson had no idea what was wrong with Kaylie, she hoped desperately that her teammate and friend would be fit and in top form in time for Worlds. She felt a niggling doubt however, that Kaylie wouldn't, World Championships were only a little over a month away.

"On our Pan-American Games team representing the United States, we will have Shawn Johnson, Chellsie Memmel, Bridget Sloan, Colleen Evans, Sabrina Vega and Vanessa Burton. We will also send Trisha Browner, Sarah Wu, Brenna Dowell and Mackenzie Hill as alternates." Marta then gave them all another speech on how important it was that those who'd not been picked for the world team understand that they were trying to send the strongest team possible to Tokyo. Thankfully, due to the fact that only sixteen team members were competing for a spot on a team everyone had at least made an alternate spot on one of them. Payson had zoned out momentarily, she was still processing the fact that she was going to Tokyo.

She noticed that everyone around her was standing up and hugging, offering words of congratulations and consolation. Payson rose to her feet and sought out Aly Raisman, her training partner during this selection process. The girl was standing beside her teammate, Alicia Sacramone beaming and talking animatedly to her. Payson made her way across to Aly, finding a smile blossoming on her own face. "Well done Aly," she said, pulling the girl into a hug. She gave a similar hug to Alicia and a second hug to Lauren who joined them.

"So I guess you're going to have to guide us Alicia, besides Kelly you're the only one of us who has competed at worlds," Aly chirped brightly.

The veteran smiled at her teammate. "Yeah, I guess I will," she said.

The members of the 2011 world team were all put into a line so pictures that would accompany the announcement of the team could be taken. Marta told them not to worry about Kaylie not being present for the picture, assuring them that there would be plenty more photo opportunities in Tokyo with the entire team.

OOO

Marta pulled Payson aside before she left the gym. "Payson," she said, laying one hand on each of the girl's shoulders. She looked deeply into Payson's eyes before beginning again. "I was very impressed with you all week, especially today. You handled the pressure so well. I was doubtful that you would come back from your injury at nationals so quickly but you did. Your gymnastics now has changed and all of the artistry that was missing is now there and you still have the power in your vault and tumbling. I want to see you do well Payson."

"I want to do well too, Marta," Payson assured the national team co-ordinator who stood before her. "I want to show the world that I've come back stronger and I want to help team USA bring home the gold."

"I want that too Payson," Marta assured her before tighten her grip slightly on Payson shoulders. "I have one question though Payson. Are you sure you are ready?"

Payson smiled. She has never been more ready for anything in her life. "Yes Marta, I'm ready."

OOO

The first person Payson rang on returning to her room was Sasha. She wasn't sure if he'd know or not yet. She picked his number out from the list of recent contacts on his phone and hit call. Payson chewed her lip, holding the phone to her ear as she waited for Sasha's response. It went to voicemail so Payson decided to leave him a message. "Hey Sasha, I don't know if you heard but we all made the team. I thought that you'd want to know. Thanks for earlier by the way; I don't know how I got so rattled. Any way I'll see you on Monday morning." Payson hung up.

She rang her mom immediately after. Kim picked up after only three rings. "Hi Pay," Kim answered tentatively. Kim had heard very little from Payson this week, this was normal however, the Ranch was renowned for its poor cell phone service. She was also aware that Payson was probably having great fun with all of her teammates at the Ranch and was too busy to call home. Before Payson's injury she had been a member of the senior national gymnastics team for a year. As a result, she spent one weekend of the month training with the other team members in Texas. Payson had always said that the training was hard but she loved being there with all the other girls. Also she felt that she learnt a lot from working with Marta and Bela Karolyi and also from some of the other girls' coaches.

"I made the team," Payson said softly into the receiver, "I'm going to Tokyo mom and I had the highest all around score during selections." Kim felt so full of joy and pride that she felt a lump form in her throat. She was just so proud of Payson, of her perseverance and belief even though so many obstacles stood in her way. Now she'd managed to overcome come some of her biggest obstacles and become a better person for it. "Mom are you still there?"

"Yes, I am. Sorry Payson, I'm trying to process it all, less than six months ago I was told you'd never walk again and now you're competing on the world stage. I'm so proud of you Payson, I've noticed just how much you've grown this year and amazed. I'm also a little scared but when you're doing things you shouldn't be physically able to do, I think I'm right to be a bit scared."

Payson chuckled before speaking, "My confidence has certainly taken a hit after everything that has happened and sometimes I'm a little scared too. At the end of the day, gymnastics is what I love."

"I know Payson, I'm so proud of your drive and determination."

"Thanks mom. I love you so much, thank you for everything."

"I love you Pay and it's no problem."

"Did you hear about Kaylie?" Payson asked changing the subject. Payson took Kim's lack of response as a complete lack of knowledge and explained to her exactly what had happened to Kaylie during selection. Kim was understandably worried about Payson's closest friend and told Payson that she'd ring Ronnie shortly to check on Kaylie. Payson told her mother about the short, cryptic text she'd received from Kaylie explain that she was fine and she'd be back on her feet in no time at all. Kim still assured Payson that she'd check in with Ronnie and text her with any updates.

The two chattered for a little while about Lauren, Kelly and the other girls at the camp. After about five minutes there was a knock at Payson's door. Kim hear said knock and insisted that she would talk to Payson later, claiming that Payson should go and enjoy the evening with her friends. They said their goodbyes and finished the call.

Payson answered the door to Aly. "Hey Pay, I just wanted to check in and see if you wanted to watch _Mean Girls_ with us. Alicia brought the DVD." Payson smiled, she had been brooding way too much today. This was exactly what she needed,_ Mean Girls _was hilarious and her mom had been right, she should enjoy her last night at selection camp. It would be two weeks until she saw the rest of the world team for a pre-competition training camp.

"Thanks Aly, I'd love to join you guys. Lead the way."

When Payson reached the room shared by Aly and Alicia it was packed with national team members. Some were squeezed onto one of the two single beds, Shawn Johnson was sitting awkwardly on the window sill, while the rest of the girls were sitting or lying down on the floor. Payson spotted Lauren and walked over to join her. "So is everyone here?" Alicia Sacramone asked over the din of the chattering girls. Everyone looked around before they realised that Colleen Evans and Sabrina Vega had not shown up. Alicia and Bridget Sloan decided to go find the pair. Once they'd both been found and brought to the room Alicia hit play.

Payson thoroughly enjoyed the whole movie and the girls' snarky, humorous comments throughout, only made it more amusing. When the movie finished none of them really wanted to go to bed; they didn't have to train in the morning. As a result they decide to put on some music. Some girls were singing along and dancing, others were taking photos and just generally enjoying themselves. Payson joined the group in the corner consisting of Kelly, Aly and Chellsie to play cards.

It was two in the morning by the time the first girls decided to make their way back to their rooms. Payson was kind of surprised that Marta hadn't checked in to see if they'd gone to bed but she probably understood the celebratory mood present in the girls as well as how this opportunity to build friendships would build stronger teams. Before Payson left she had given her number to the thirteen other girls who she didn't train in the same gym as (including her once arch-enemy and now sort-of-friend, Kelly Parker). She'd also been given their numbers and she had promised to follow them all on twitter and add them on Facebook. She'd also been involved in taking or being in numerous photos. Payson loved this aspect of camp and she was so glad that she was back on the national team and able to experience it with these girls.

OOO

When Sasha received Payson's phone message it was late. His phone had died at about twenty past five after he spoke to Kaylie's parents. He'd been nervous for Payson, Lauren and Kaylie that morning when he'd gotten up. He'd wished that he could've been there with them to see how they were doing and offer support. Usually coaches went to camp with their gymnasts but for some reason Marta had decided that this week things would be different. He'd meant to check in with the girls and Marta Karolyi but his Friday was surprisingly busy and somehow he'd forgotten. Sasha had of course remembered to send the girls good luck texts.

He'd spent the morning coaching his eight level tens, who were preparing to compete in State Championships in a week's time. Some of the girls were extremely talented and he was sure that they would be testing to become elite in January. Whereas some of the girls had the talent but lacked the drive, they treated gymnastics like a hobby and they had no interest in spending six hours training a day as an elite gymnast.

After lunch he'd worked with the four junior elites, their season had pretty much come to a standstill. However, they were all still training hard with their sights set on making next year's national team and for the two who were national team members they were hoping to make the Junior Pacific Rim Championship team. That had brought him up to five o'clock, when he had spoken to a rattled, upset Payson Keeler and assured her that Kaylie would be fine. He had called Ronnie and Alex Cruz and had been told that they were both on their way to see Kaylie in hospital in Texas and they'd ring with an update later. He had then coached the level six team. After that he had a level four class that was almost impossible to control. By the time eight o'clock come along he was exhausted.

He left the gym, forgetting his phone. It was only at ten o'clock did he remember about his phone at all and had to rush back to the gym to get it. He brought it back to the airstream and plugged it in. When he checked it ten minutes later he found four missed calls, one from Payson Keeler and three from Marta Karolyi, national team co-ordinator. Both of them had left messages.

Marta informed him that all three of his girls had made the world championship team and she told him that Emily would be welcome to come back and train at the Ranch with the rest of the team when her family issues were sorted out. Sasha thought this was very decent of Marta who was known for often being hard on athletes who pulled out of or skipped her training camps. She also asked Sasha to call her in the morning because she wanted to talk to him about something. Sasha had no idea if this 'something' was good or bad. But right now he was worrying about Kaylie and he didn't really have room for anything else.

He listened to Payson's message next. Sasha felt bad for not having talked to her, noticing how self-conscious and insecure she sounded on the phone. He couldn't understand what caused these emotions, he could attribute it to Kaylie's injury but he reckoned that there was something deeper at play with Payson Keeler. When he looked at the clock, he realised that it was probably too late to call Payson. He reckoned they would all be heading to bed at the Ranch now. Of course he couldn't have known that the girls were still up celebrating their success.

Instead Sasha called Alex Cruz, deciding to deal with the most pressing issue. He was deeply worried when Alex revealed that Kaylie was suffering from anorexia. He was her coach; how the hell had he not noticed that?

**AN: Yay, some Sasha! Obviously Sasha-Payson interaction would be better but that is to come.**

**So thoughts anybody?**

**Katie xx**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: This is what I like to regard as a bonus chapter, I won't be at home during the next week as I'm going to a two week language course on the other side of the country today. That basically equals no computer and no WIFI. I will be home during the middle weekend of the course and I'm hoping to post then but it all depends on how much time I have. So enjoy this one…**

**Thanks for all reviews, alerts and favourites, I appreciate it!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Make It or Break It, Twitter or any gymnasts mentioned in this chapter.**

When Payson arrived home she was absolutely wrecked. Her mom had picked her up at the airport in Denver, she'd been waiting for her in arrivals with Steve Tanner who was waiting for Lauren. Payson, much to her surprise had received a goodbye hug from Kelly before she left the airport. It confused her how in one short week they were no longer enemies and were now sort-of-friends. What surprised Payson more was that at camp she had seen a far more positive side to Kelly's personality, a more open and caring one. It appeared to her that after losing her Visa National Championship title to Kaylie that Kelly Parker had grown as a person.

The ride home in the car was short, mainly because Payson fell asleep about ten minutes into the journey. Kim woke her up when they arrived back to her house, Payson climbed out of the car and helped her mom with the bags. When she got inside the house her dad and sister were waiting. Becca pulled her into a hug first and then she hugged her father. "Congrats Pay," Becca said beaming, somewhat expectantly.

"Thanks Becca," Payson replied a little drowsily. "So what'd I miss?"

"Well I'm here," Mark reminded her. Then it clicked with Payson that her dad wasn't even supposed to be there he was meant to be in Minnesota working. Payson frowned. Why was he here? Mark interpreted her frowned and answered the unasked question. "I got offered a new job here, the pay is even better but the best part is I get to be nearer to you guys." Payson was thrilled, ignoring the Kaylie sized blip in her week this might have been one of the best weeks in her life.

"Good because I missed having you here dad."

Dinner was a happy affair; Kim had prepared salmon, Payson's favourite food. The four of them sat around the table and just generally enjoyed being together as a family. Payson shared stories of her evenings at the Ranch and even showed them some of the pictures she, Lauren and Aly had taken with some of the exotic animals in Bela Karolyi's petting zoo. Becca had been particularly impressed that Payson had managed to get a close up picture with a camel, declaring that getting a picture with a camel was officially on her bucket list.

After dinner, Becca disappeared to call one of her friends from the gym, Kyla, another level ten girl who she'd become close with. Kim and Mark decided to flick around and see if they could find anything of interest on the TV. Payson opted to go for a shower, after spending a large chunk of the day travelling she felt disgusting.

Once she was washed and dried and had spent twenty five minutes blow drying her very long hair, Payson checked her phone. She was surprised to see a message from Aly Raisman. There was a picture attached. The picture was of the two of the them the night before. Payson was scrunching up her face, while Aly was sticking her tongue out at the camera and making the 'rock on' sign with her left hand. Payson found herself laughing in amusement at the picture. A message accompanied the picture, 'Paypay I'm back in Boston and I miss you already xx'. Payson smiled, she really liked Aly. Aly was of a chirpy disposition but still possessed a fabulous work ethic that rivalled Payson's own. When she thought about it, Payson realised that she too would miss Alexandra Raisman.

She clicked a couple of buttons on her phone clumsily. Then she awkwardly managed to take a picture of herself making a sad face with her best puppy dog eyes. She sent said picture to Aly along with the message: 'That picture is now my screensaver, I shall think of you whenever I pick up my phone. I miss you too Aly. Two more weeks! x'

Payson then decided to boot up her laptop and log into her Twitter and follow all the girls like she had promised. When the internet was working, she checked her email and logged into her twitter. She was stunned by the amount of fans who had heard that she was going to be on the worlds team wishing her well. One of those well wishers was Heather, her only friend from school during the time she'd been out with an injury. She retweeted Heather's post and replied with her thanks. Then she retweeted the USA Gymnastics Organisation's post which had a picture of this year's world championship team minus Kaylie.

Payson smiled widely when she realised that Nastia Liukin had tweeted her. She had been friends with Nastia for a while, the Olympic all around champion often sent Payson a text or two a week and they tried to Skype once a month when there schedules allowed. Payson had been one of the junior athletes on the Pacific Rim Championship team with Nastia the year before the Olympics and the two of them had clicked despite the age difference. The two of them shared the same drive to be great as well as the same passion for the sport. She read Nastia's tweet, 'Knew you could do it Pay, can't wait to see you kill in Tokyo. I'll be there to support'. Payson retweeted this comment before replying with her thanks. Then she grabbed her phone and texted Nastia a more personal thank you text. As much as Payson liked Twitter, she was of the opinion that keeping some of her personal life private was important.

Payson then had a look at her Twitter page. She had to admit she was astonished by the amount of new followers she had. When she'd last checked there were before she left she had about 450, a big number by any account but now she had 556 followers. She felt surprised that so many people liked her enough to follow her and that spurred her on to do better and to be better. Payson decided to leave a short message for her followers before following all of the girls from camp that she didn't follow already. She typed her message quickly: 'I had a great week at selection camp. Miss the girls already but World Championships here we come!'

She followed all the girls, including Kelly Parker. Then she took a quick scan down through her new followers. Payson stopped dead when she saw that one of them was called Payson Keeler Probs. Curious as to what exactly Payson Keeler Probs was she navigated to their page. Sure enough it was a new page, its oldest posts were from the night before. She read the bio and chuckled, it said 'problems that occur when Payson Keeler is your whole life'. She then looked at the recent posts, her particular favourite was 'I never liked the colour purple until I found out it was Payson Keeler's favourite colour #KeelerProbs #TeamKeeler'. It was just the pure ridiculousness of the post. Another good one went something along the lines of 'Payson Keeler likes bananas so I like bananas'. The most recent post was an appeal to Payson to follow the page and she did just that, deciding to tweet them too for good measure. 'I love that there's a twitter account called Payson Keeler Probs #followthem'. With that Payson shut down her computer.

She went to find Becca and said goodnight, her sister was absorbed in a texting conversation with another level ten from the gym and barely acknowledged her older sister but Payson was used to that. Payson made her way to the living room and wished her parents goodnight before heading to her bedroom and snuggling into bed.

OOO

Sunday was a quiet day at the Keeler residence. Payson woke early, feeling well rested and went for a four mile run. She returned home and showered and got ready for the day. She went to church with her parents and Becca.

Sunday was family day in the Keeler house, they all had lunch together. It being the girls only day off from training Becca insisted on seeing her friends but Kim and Mark didn't mind. Payson spent her afternoon catching up on work she had to do for homeschooling. She was hoping to get her GED soon so that it wouldn't be as much of a distraction from training.

Payson arrived in the gym bright and early on Monday morning. She had decided to run rather than wait for her mom and Becca because Becca always took a ridiculously long amount of time to beautify herself in the morning. The only other person there was Sasha. He was on the phone in his office. Payson gave him a slight wave as she headed in the direction of the locker room. She dumped her bag and took off her tracksuit to reveal her favourite purple training leo and her black shorts.

By the time Payson had re-emerged from the locker room Sasha had finished his phone call and was shuffling through the mess on his desk looking for something. She smiled at seeing him, it surprised her just how much she'd missed him in her week away from the Rock.

When Payson felt suitably stretched she began the warm up exercises that she'd been taught at the Karolyi selection camp. She heard the gym door open but she ignored it and continued her warm up. Once she was finished that she called up to Sasha informing him that she was ready and he made his way down to coach her. This was what she did most mornings when she arrived early to the Rock, Sasha was usually busy trying to squeeze in paperwork or evaluations or simply sort a problem out.

The first thing Sasha did was hug Payson. Payson hugged him back unquestioningly, such was the athlete-coach bond between them. "Well done Payson," he said, smiling at her, "I knew you were going to go down there and impress them."

"Thanks Sasha," Payson replied braking the hug as she heard someone walk into the gym.

"Morning Austin," Sasha called over her shoulder, Austin must have just conveyed his acknowledgement and greetings physically for he did not speak.

"I was speaking to Marta yesterday," Sasha told Payson, "and she has asked me to coach this year's World Championship team. So I'll be there in Tokyo with you and Lauren."

"And Kaylie too, right?" Payson questioned, no one had told her that Kaylie had pulled out. She'd been texting Kaylie but her replies were always cryptic and non-committal. Still she felt that if Kaylie was going to pull out of the competition she expected her to at least mention that.

"Right now it's not looking too good. Her parents want her to pull out, she's sick but Kaylie is refusing to accept that."

"Kaylie's sick?" Payson asked frowning, all previous gripes with the girl forgotten. She was sick?

"Yes she's sick, look if Kaylie hasn't told you what's wrong it isn't my place to say, she'll tell you in her own time. Anyway the show must go on and we must keep training. Marta wants you to compete all around at worlds, is there anywhere in particular that you'd like to focus on?"

"Bars and floor," Payson replied shoving the Kaylie issue from her mind, right now training for worlds was her first priority inside the gym.

OOO

Two days later, Kaylie admitted to Payson via text that she was hospitalised due to the fact that the doctors told her she was anorexic. Kaylie took the opportunity to rant via text about how they were wrong and about how being thin was part of the sport. She also mentioned that she had agreed with her parents to pull out of worlds. Apparently she refused to accept she was sick but in order placate her parents and to get back to gymnastics quicker she'd agreed not to compete in Tokyo. It all made sense to Payson now, she'd noticed Kaylie's less than satisfactory eating habits at camp, she'd even mentioned it but Kaylie had steadfastly and aggressively denied the existence of any problem. It was clear at this stage that she was in denial.

The next day it was announced that Kaylie had pulled out of worlds and that Olympian Shawn Johnson would be acting as a replacement. Payson worried about this choice, yes Shawn had been amazing up until 2008 but she was grappling with a knee injury which meant she couldn't compete on floor. On top of that, her balance beam and vault scores weren't great; she'd had to downgrade both due to her dodgy knee. The only place where she would be of much value to team USA was on bars where she could score a fifteen or over.

Also noteworthy was Chellsie Memmel's withdrawal from the Pan American games. Chellsie sighted required surgery on her injured shoulder as the reason but Payson couldn't help but wonder why she had participated in selection camp if she'd known about her shoulder injury. The only conclusion that Payson could come to was that Chellsie would've competed if she'd been named to the World Championship team but she didn't regard the Pan American Games as an important enough meet to compromise her health. As such the Pan American games teams were down two members and Brenna Dowell and Sarah Wu, two of the alternates, would be filling those spots.

Payson spent the two weeks in the run up to world team training camp focusing on her form and perfecting her routines, fixing any errors that she or Sasha could pinpoint. Lauren had done the same, surprising Payson with her seeming commitment to gymnastics.

Emily had shown up at the gym once to inform Sasha that she was giving up gymnastics. Sasha tried to talk her out of making any rash decisions but Emily said that she needed to work in order to help pay her brothers medical fees so training just wasn't feasible. Payson had visited her on two occasions and had tried to convince her to come back but she realised after talking the whole thing over with Emily that she had thought the whole thing through. Emily just wanted to focus on schoolwork and help her family in any way possible; regrettably there wasn't room for gymnastics in her life. Payson understood where Emily was coming from, while she mightn't agree with her friends reasoning, she couldn't fault her commitment to her family. The two had decided that it was important to keep in close contact regardless of the circumstances they found themselves in.

It scared Payson that her family of teammates was falling apart around her but she knew she had to be strong. She couldn't let it affect her gymnastics. Now she didn't just want to win gold for herself, she felt as if doing so would in some way satisfy Emily's dream of Olympic success too.

**AN: When I started writing this I didn't think this was where this chapter was going, the beauty of this story is that it just seems to write itself sometimes.**

**So thoughts on this chapter?**

**Suggestions?**

**Characters you'd like to see more of?**

**Katie xx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hitting you with a short update before I return to my Irish course for the week!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing…**

Payson chewed her lip as she boarded the plane in LAX. She could hardly believe that she was going to Tokyo to compete in the World Championships. It seemed crazy just how much had changed for her in the space of a year. In just one year she'd had a serious, almost career ending injury, she'd had experimental surgery, she'd kissed her coach, changed her style of gymnastics and petitioned to the national team. So much had changed in one year but so much was still the same. She was still a gymnast and she was still on top. Payson felt different; however, her time off from gymnastics had enabled her to grow as a person. Although she didn't realise it at the time, her injury was one of the best things that ever happened to her.

The flight attendant checked her ticket and directed her to her seat. Payson nodded indicating that she understood the instructions and thanked the kindly lady. Clutching her duffle bag, she made her way to her first class seat. She was always stunned by how the USA gymnastics committee were willing to treat their gymnasts like royalty when flying. She realised that such treatment was probably sensible, seeing as a gymnast relied on their body being in top shape to compete at a world class level. Even still, before she'd made the junior national team she never thought she'd ever fly first class, as her mom had always said, it just was a waste of money. As such Payson always felt a little spoilt when she travelled to international competitions.

Payson found her seat and sat down. She was beside the window. Payson was content to just shove her duffle bag under her feet, knowing that if she couldn't sleep she would need her book, iPod and other stuff to amuse herself on this flight. Aly Raisman was sitting beside her. Over the past couple of weeks the two girls had become fast friends. They'd texted constantly and skyped most evenings. The time difference considering Aly lived in Boston was a bit awkward but they didn't let that stop them. Then the two new friends had shared a room at the Ranch during training camp, their blossoming friendship was what was helping Payson get through this whole Kaylie mess.

Payson rubbed her eyes tiredly; she'd been up early in order to fly out to California to meet the rest of the team. Aly was in even worse condition, having flown in from Boston. As such the two girls were quiet as the flight attendants demonstrated how to use the lifejackets. When the captain announced that they would be taking off shortly, the two just sat there, staring unseeingly into the distance.

When they did take off Payson was jolted from her daydreaming. She could feel the pressure building up inside her ears. She yawned releasing the pressure before reaching into her pocket to grab some chewing gum. Payson popped one in her mouth and then offered some to Aly, who accepted with a sleepy smile. Payson could tell that Aly would be out cold soon. The girl's eyelids were drooping, there were dark circles under her eyes and she kept rubbing her nose with a closed fist. Payson was correct because not even ten minutes later the brunette beside her was snoring softly.

There was an announcement on the intercom informing passengers that they were now free to use electronic devices. Payson was tempted to look through the in-flight movies but thought better of it, knowing only too well that if she started to watch a movie she'd never fall asleep. Instead, she unzipped her duffle bag and fished out her iPod. Becca had made her a new playlists entitled 'Good Luck, You'll Kill it' before she left. Payson hit play and smiled as Nicki Minaj's _Starships _began to play, Becca was obsessed with this song. She was always humming it around the house when they got home from the gym.

Payson was a little sad that Becca and her parents wouldn't be able to see her compete in Tokyo. They just didn't have the money, Payson had wanted to take endorsements to help with her family's monetary issues but her parents insisted that it was out of the question. She understood where her parents were coming from and that they only wanted to protect her NCAA scholarship eligibility but Payson didn't care. She had no plans to compete in college gymnastics, she wanted to be an Olympian and she wanted to be able to provide a better life for her family. Her mind was made up. She was going to do her absolute best in Tokyo and hopefully get some endorsements as a result. Payson didn't want to go to London and compete in the biggest, most important competition of her life without her family there to support her.

OOO

It was eleven am local time, when team USA touched downed in Tokyo. Narita Airport was full of people. Payson rubbed her eyes as she waited in line at passport control. She slept really well on the plane much to her surprise. _Starships_ hadn't even ended by the time she'd fallen asleep. She'd woken up in time for breakfast and she and Aly had chattered away to each other for the two remaining hours of the flight. The two of them discussed anything and everything from movies to fashion to gymnastics. It surprised Payson just how comfortable she felt with Aly's and just how close the two of them had gotten in such a short space of time.

The whole team passed through passport control without any problems. There was some media waiting in arrivals, who wanted snap some pictures of the American gymnastics team and ask them questions. The team however, led by Sasha walked right by them without answering any of their intrusive questions or posing for any picture, just as the NGO had ordered. A mini bus waited outside of the terminals for the team. The girls all climbed on and the bus took them to their hotel.

The hotel was situated in the heart of the bustling capital city near the Metropolitan Gymnasium where the USA women's team would be competing in just under a week and a half. Payson was rooming with Lauren. Their room was enormous and the window gave them a wonderful view of the cityscape. As Payson sat on her bed she could hardly contain her excitement, she was here. This was her destiny to help team USA bring home gold at these 2011 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. Next year, she would hopefully be making a similar journey to London with a similar objective; to bring glory, honour and medals to her country.

OOO

The next day the girls had a closed practice in the Metropolitan Gymnasium. All of the team members were excited to be training in the place where they'd soon be competing. At that moment in time, Payson was on bar rotation with Olympian Shawn Johnson. Sasha was spotting her. This was the same bar routine that she'd used in World Trials. It was a difficult routine with a high start value. The routine was ideal for Payson as it showed off her new, elegant lines as well as demonstrating her ability to fly on her release moves. She was now consistently landing her dismount as well. As Sasha watched her he found himself comparing her to Nastia Liukin, the reigning Olympic all around champion. They'd said that after Nastia, due to the new code of points that no gymnast who put an emphasis on artistry over power would ever win all around gold, Sasha had a feeling that Payson would prove them wrong.

Payson nailed her dismount before saluting the imaginary judges. She was panting heavily, that had been her fourth bar routine in succession and her routine was long by standards. As such she was wrecked. Sasha talked her through the minor mistakes she'd made during her routine, such as her lack of toe point during one of her kips. Payson nodded listening carefully, at the same time focusing on getting her breathing rate to return to normal. Once Sasha was finished, she excused herself to get some water.

The water fountain was close to the floor where Alicia Sacramone was practicing her floor routine. Aly Raisman and Kelly Parker stood at the side of the floor cheering Alicia on. Payson filled her plastic cup with water from the fountain and turned to watch Alicia perform. Alicia was always incredible on floor; it and vault were her best events. She always gave one hundred and ten percent, even in practice, and she looked like she was enjoying the routine so much that even the audience couldn't help but enjoy it too.

Payson watched as Alicia began her final tumbling pass of the routine. There was a huge crash as the girl over rotated the pass and landed on the floor with a deafening crash. Payson froze practically choking on her water. She found herself spluttering and coughing violently as Alicia's coach Mihai Brestyan ran toward her. Payson's mind then started to work and she darted towards her teammate. She reached her at the same time Aly, Kelly and Sasha did.

The first thing Payson registered was that Alicia seemed insanely calm for someone who'd just had such a horrific fall. Alicia didn't move but chose this moment to speak, "has someone checked the floor, I think I broke the floor?" Payson almost smirked at the coolness of her question. The floor itself was intact but Payson knew, judging by the sound created when Alicia made contact with it Alicia was not.

"Alicia," Mihai said "the floor is fine but you are not."

"Well now that you mention it," Sacramone replied, "my Achilles hurts like hell."

OOO

The whole USA team was quite shaken after the incident with Alicia. She'd been taken straight to hospital, where it had been confirmed that she'd torn her Achilles' tendon and she certainly wouldn't be competing during these championships. Shawn Johnson had stepped into the leadership position as the most experienced gymnast on the team.

Payson know understood why Shawn was there, her experience was invaluable. Payson had great respect for Shawn; after all she had once been the best gymnast in the world, something that Payson now aspired to be also. Without Shawn, Payson was certain, that team would have fallen apart. The Olympic gold medallist had reassured them that they wouldn't be leaving Tokyo with anything less than team gold. It was her drive and certainty which settled the young, inexperienced team of gymnasts who would in seven days time be representing their country on the world stage. Losing Sacramone was an enormous blow but they all understood that they had to continue on, give their all and make their country proud.

**AN: Please leave a review they mean the world to me.**

**I would have made it longer but I need to run for the train now, as such it isn't properly edited so let me know if you spot any mistakes.**

**In the next chapter Nastia Liukin will make an appearance and Sasha and Payson will have a proper scene :)**

**Until Saturday or Sunday, **

**With love, **

**Katie.**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: So it's been forever, sorry, I've been working. Updates are likely to be fairly infrequent because I'll be away for the month of August with limited WIFI access but I'll do my best. I'll definitely have WIFI on the 20****th**** but that's the only time I'll be certain of it.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Payson chewed her lip. She was wrecked; it felt like her body ached all over. Admittedly doing twelve full beam sets during podium training may have been a little bit overzealous but it'd seemed like a good idea at the time. Payson had been informed by Marta that she was going to be competing on beam in the Team Final of the World Championships providing that team USA qualified. Payson had expected to compete on beam in qualifications where she could hopefully qualify to the all around competition but not in team finals where every score counted.

In team qualifications, four athletes from each country had to compete on each apparatus and the three highest scores would be counted but in the team finals only three athletes competed on each apparatus and no score was dropped. Now with Alicia injured Payson had third highest difficulty score on beam, a 6.1 but lately she had been struggling with some of her connections. She had to connect some acrobatic skills which gave her extra bonus tenths in order to ensure this 6.1 D.O.D. Payson had hit nine of the twelve beam routines in training. In the other three, she had either had a fall while attempting her illusion turn or her connections had been non-existent or very questionable.

Payson sighed, this was a stressful experience. She knew she couldn't let it mess with her head however. There was only one more day of training left until qualifications. Gymnastics was an incredibly mental sport. It was a sport in which the athlete had to have incredible mental toughness in which to excel. Payson had this toughness. Commentators had in the past referred to her as the terminator but the injury and comeback had shaken this resolve and her confidence just a little bit.

Payson stood up. She wasn't going to let this get to her. She was going to nail her routines in qualifications in two days time she told herself. She went to find the one person who she knew could give her the confidence boost that she needed right now.

OOO

Sasha was surprised to hear the knock at his door. It was five o'clock in Japan. The athletes had arrived back from training at four and had been given free time to recover until six thirty. Sasha himself had been recovering in his room. He was worried about his team and Payson in particular. He had noticed changes in her demeanour over the past few months; she certainly wasn't as outgoing or confident as usual. She was still determined and driven, more so even but it seemed that her self-confidence had been diminished in the wake of her injury. Sasha knew what'd caused this. It was the meet in France where Payson had petitioned to the national team. From what she had told him, she had very nearly been denied a spot on the team and had it been up to Ellen Beals, she would've lost her chance to try and make the world championship team and severely weakened her chances of representing her country at the Olympics. Despite a poor performance, Marta Karolyi, national team co-ordinator and wife of the man who coached Nadia Comaneci, had seen a spark of greatness in Payson and had given her the chance to prove herself, granting her petition.

Sasha worried that Payson lacked the self-belief required to be the best, the skill was certainly not lacking. However, the Payson whom he'd seen of late had been fragile and scared. He wanted to help her, to protect her but he didn't want to overstep boundaries. He wanted the headstrong, stubborn Payson back. This new Payson scared him. So when he opened the door to find Payson Keeler wearing an oversized Rock t-shirt and track suit pants with her damp blonde hair pulled into a hasty bun, he resolved to try and do something.

They both tried to speak at once. Sasha decided to be a gentleman and let Payson speak first. "I'm scared Sasha," she told him, "I'm scared and stressed, I've never felt like this before a competition. I'm terrified that I'm going to let the whole team down; I'm terrified to let my family down and to let you down. I know I shouldn't feel this or I should compartmentalise but I can't. I'm being eaten up by fear and stress. And I hate it, I hate feeling like this, I just want to be the old fearless Payson again. The Payson who believes that she can do anything, win anything, be anything but I just don't feel like that Sasha. I so badly want to win, if only to feel that way again." I tear escaped and trickled down Payson face. "I want to feel whole again Sasha because right now everything just feels so messed up. My world is crumbling, I'm screwing everything up. First I get injured then I kiss you and then Emily just decides to give up and Kaylie was anorexic the whole time and I didn't even notice. I was too caught up in myself to notice that my best friend was crying out for help. Was I always like this Sasha? Was I always this selfish and self-absorbed? Was the world always this messed up?" The tears were streaming down her face at a steady pace now.

Sasha wanted to pull her in for a hug, to just tell her that he would fix everything; that it would all be fine. But he couldn't. He couldn't organise the chaotic world or take all of the pain and hurt away. All he could do was assure Payson that they would get through this together. So that is what he did. "Payson," he said seriously, "firstly you aren't selfish, the old you could be self absorbed and headstrong but I've seen a change in you since the injury if anything you are more giving than ever before. I see how you are with the younger girls at the gym, helping them with new skills, indulging their craziness. I've seen how you deal with your teammates; I know how much you care for them. If anything you care for them too deeply. Secondly, you have screwed nothing up, this is just how the world works sometimes and yes it's shitty, excuse my French, but life is just a pain in the arse sometimes. We have to accept that, we can't let things like that rule our lives. I let hatred rule my life for far too long and I'm not going to let your life be ruled by a fear of failure. Payson, you are probably the most talented athlete that I've ever coached based on skill alone. But of late you've worried me Payson, you seem to lack the self confidence that you need, I have every confidence that you can nail your routines. If you go out there and perform like you do in the gym at practice you'll take the gold in the all around without a doubt. But do you have that same confidence in yourself and your abilities? Look at yourself Payson; you are the best gymnast in the United States at the moment. You Payson Keeler are brilliant and you deserve to be here and even if you do screw up all your routines you will _not_ disappoint me or your family. You are the best Payson and I don't want to see you miss your chance because you blame yourself for everything that goes on in the lives of people around you. You did not cause these problems Payson. You are not the only person who should have anticipated them. We are all to blame in our own way for your injury, for what happened in France, for Kaylie's illness, for Emily's struggles but shit happens Payson. I'm not one for cheesy quotes Payson but I will make this an exception 'our greatest victory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall'. You've gotten up from a fall Payson, now is the time to stop living in fear of the next fall and embrace the opportunity. If you fall get back up. If you fail start over."

Sasha took a deep breath as if he were about to continue his monologue but Payson lifted her hand to stop him. She cleared her throat before speaking "Thanks, you're my rock Sasha. You're right, I've been living in fear trying to anticipate every fall but not giving my all and doing my best regardless of the consequences. I need to make peace with my faults and let my talents shine. Wow that was cheesy; I think I'll stop the over-emotional crap now." Payson sunk to the floor and leaned her back against the wall beside the door.

"Thank God," Sasha replied chuckling, sitting down beside her, "I feel lost sometimes too," he told Payson, "but it's a love of coaching and the sport that keeps me going. Moving to the Rock and meeting you girls helped me to find myself, I felt like you do now like everything was out of control but I learned that I needed to realise that I only control myself."

"So what your saying is I need to make myself the best I can be and let you take care of the rest."

"Something like that Payson. You are to young to have the weight of the world on your shoulders so leave the worrying to me, I'll take care of the important stuff, it'll all still be there to worry about after the Olympics."

Payson smiled and wiped a stray tear from her eye. She took another deep breath and took Sasha's hand. Payson looked into his eyes and said, "thanks for calming me down and putting up with my crazy. You seriously keep me sane."

Sasha snorted. "It's kind of in my job description," he replied.

"Did you just snort?" Payson asked playfully, smiling for the first time since their conversation had begun.

"Maybe," Sasha replied, "what's it to you?"

Payson just laughed in response. Sasha saw a glimpse of the Payson he'd been missing, not cold and calculated but playful and free. As far as he was concerned this was progress, Payson's issues were not going to be solved immediately but they were certainly on the road to recovery where her confidence was concerned.

Payson knew that she had made the right decision in coming to Sasha. He knew her better than she knew herself and he knew just what he needed to hear. She hadn't been joking when she called him her rock, Sasha was her life buoy, keeping her from drowning. He kept her on the straight and narrow. Gymnastics wasn't called the toughest sport in the world for nothing, while it was essentially an individual sport without their coach and teammates most gymnasts wouldn't survive in the world of cut throat gymnastics. Payson was just so glad to have Sasha, Lauren, Aly, Aly, Kelly and the rest of the team to lean on. And Emily and Kaylie too of course. Payson closed her eyes, she was Payson Keeler, she was the best gymnast in the USA and she was going to go out there in two days time and do herself proud and have fun.

During the few short minutes of their conversation Payson had realised that nothing else mattered. She loved the sport of gymnastics and she loved performing, she was going to show everyone watching that through her routines. She was going to give her all and if that wasn't perfect so be it but she was going to fill her performances with energy and emotion. Payson was going to tell the audience the story of her struggles and her triumphs. She was going to tell them the story of Payson Keeler.

**AN: So what did you think?  
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**If enough people review I'll update on Friday before I leave.**

**Who else is excited for the Olympics?**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: I have WIFI. Yay! Here's the next chapter…**

Aly chuckled in the corner. Payson whipped her head around to look at the brunette, wondering what the source of her amusement was. Payson heard a click signalling that Aly had just refreshed her newsfeed on Twitter. She looked up to Payson, Lauren and McKayla Maroney who were all sprawled out on Payson's double bed. Payson was lying on her tummy facing forward, her head resting on her hands and her elbows digging into the bed. Her legs were bent at the knee and her feet pointed towards the ceiling. Lauren was lying flat inches away from Payson's legs, texting Kaylie. McKayla was playing _Temple Run_ on her iPhone, her head resting on Lauren's stomach. Aly had opted to sit on the chair in the corner her feet propped up against the desk beside her. Kelly had decided to take a shower rather than join them and Shawn was on the phone to her boyfriend.

Aly's smirk was very pronounced. Payson shifted slightly, relieving the pressure on her elbow. "Well," Lauren said, "spit it out, what's so funny?"

Aly giggled again before composing herself. "It's just these fan tweets wishing us luck. Someone told me that they hoped I had a good swim tomorrow. What's up with that?" Payson chuckled as did the other girls, it was pretty ridiculous.

"If you think that's bad Aly," Payson told her, "just wait until the four year fans make their presence known. They will tune into the broadcast on the day of qualifications and have stupid tweets about how awesome we are and how they've loved us forever or asking where Nastia is despite the fact she's been retired since 2009."

"Well If I make that team and am receiving those really stupid tweets I don't think I'll mind."

"Agreed," McKayla said joining the conversation for the first time as she'd paused her game of _Temple Run_. "That's what I've dreamed about since I was six, making the Olympic team. I used to train at the same gym as Kyla Ross, the current Junior National Champion. Me and Kyla always used to watch the Olympics together and nationals too. We actually went to Olympic Trials in 2004 and 2008 and nationals in 2001. I think being at Nationals was when I realised that I wanted to be an Olympian."

"Awwh Mac, who knew you were so sentimental," Lauren said sarcastically. In response to this, McKayla grabbed the copy of _Inside Gymnastics_ that was sitting on Payson's beside locker and hit Lauren on the head with it.

"I get you Mac," Payson said smiling, "I think the first time I saw the Olympics was in 2000, I was five and I watched the girls compete in Sydney. I think by all accounts that was a disaster for team USA but I remember thinking that I wanted to be just like them."

"I don't know when I decided that I wanted to go to the Olympics," Aly said, "I guess it's always been a goal. I mean representing your country at the Olympics is the pinnacle of the sport."

"It'd be amazing if we could all make it there together," McKayla said quietly.

"Yeh," Aly responded, "that'd be pretty amazing."

OOO

Payson looked at herself in the mirror, she was wearing her navy, white and red warm ups. Underneath her warm up tracksuit she had her team USA leotard on. Her leo was red with silver rhinestones providing the decoration. While the leotard itself wasn't exactly Payson's style she had to admit that she liked it more than some of the USA leotards that she'd seen in the past. She particularly liked the shiny red fabric that the leo was made from, loving the particular shade of red that had been selected.

Payson added a few more clips to her hair to ensure that no blonde wisps would come loose during competition. Holding Payson's bun in place was a shiny red scrunchie that matched the leo she was wearing. The rest of the girls wore the same scrunchie in their hair, although McKayla, Shawn and Lauren had opted to tie their hair in ponytails. However, Kelly and Aly had decided to tie their hair back in a bun like Payson. Payson felt it was strange to see Kelly Parker going into competition without her two signature buns but Kelly just brushed it off when Lauren mentioned. Kelly claimed that she'd grown as a person and the buns reminded her of the childish, spiteful person she used to be. Payson was slightly taken aback by this. She'd seen the changes in Kelly herself but it stunned how much the girl had changed and grown over the last year since losing her national title to Kaylie.

Aly handed Payson some bright red lipstick to apply to her lips and Payson smiled. "You look good Pay," Aly said smiling; Payson thanked her and began to withdraw. She knew with a competition of this magnitude she needed to become steely, robot Payson. It felt almost comforting to do this, sort of empowering. In this moment, Payson felt in control and ready to show the world she was back.

Lauren looked over at her friend; she could see that Payson wore her typical pre-competition mask. She was in 'robot Payson' mode as she had always called it. Lauren had wanted to tell Payson about something that had been plaguing her mind and conscience all day. It involved a certain email that she'd sent to one Ellen Beals, an evil lady who was high up in the National Gymnastics Organisation. This email had contained a rather damaging photo of Payson kissing her coach, Sasha Belov. Lauren's conscience and heart were heavy but she knew if she told Payson this information, it would throw her completely. For the good of the team she resolved to reveal the information to Sasha before she competed and to tell Payson at a later date. She knew her actions were selfish but Payson looked so ready and determined. She looked like her old self apart from a new glint in her eye. Lauren knew that Payson was about to have the comeback in her life. After all Lauren had put her friend through in the past few years she wouldn't spoil this moment for Payson.

Payson looked down at her phone which had just vibrated. Nastia Liukin, 2008 Olympic all around medallist had just sent her a text. Payson read it, a little taken aback by how Nastia had made the effort to send her a personal text. _Payson, go out there, have the meet of your life and show the world you're back. I'll be in the arena watching and cheering for you. I know you can do it girl! NL xx_ Payson had always kept in contact with Nastia but she had never received a good luck text from her before a meet, knowing someone like Nastia believed in her boosted her recovering and growing self confidence. I can do this, Payson thought as she followed her teammates from the room.

OOO

From the moment Payson stepped out into the arena in Tokyo she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins. It felt as if the crowd was giving her energy. While the audience was far from full, the mood was wonderful in the arena. She couldn't help but look around, beaming when she saw some American flags in the crowd; she was going to do her country proud.

Team USA had five minutes to warm up on vault before their round of qualification began. Also in this round of qualification were the Italian team and the British team. Both teams were strong but they were hardly a big threat to team USA. Also competing was a mixed group of athletes from countries who could only qualify individuals instead of a team.

It was Payson's turn to warm up her vault, Sasha had the springboard set for her. All Payson could see was the vaulting horse, her tunnel vision had kicked in. She focused on the vault before running as fast as she could down the runway. She hit the springboard perfectly and managed to get huge height off the vaulting able. In the air she kept her legs glued together as she tried to get the two and a half twists around. She was in the piked position slightly too early in order to ensure her rotation but that was the only major area where she could incur a deduction. As this was only a warm up, Payson made little effort to stick the vault, allowing herself to take two giant steps backward to reduce the impact on her knees. Gymnasts rarely tried to stick their vault in last minute warm ups in case they injured themselves.

"Nice vault Payson," Sasha told her as she stepped down off the podium. "You're piking a little early so watch that. Payson nodded as she looked at her coach who was wearing a red USA polo to match the girl's leos. Sasha put on hand onto Payson's shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "Don't doubt yourself," he told her, "you're ready for this." Payson gave him a single nod before rejoining the group. Just McKayla was left to have her warm up vaults. McKayla was doing two vaults as she was hoping to qualify to the vault final, one was a back handspring Rudi and her second was an amanar vault. She easily had the highest difficulty score of everyone who was trying to make the vault final. Payson had no doubt that McKayla would have one of the top eight vaults and qualify.

Aly was the first to vault for the American team. Her double twisting Yurchenko was wonderfully executed in the air but she took a large step to the side on landing, putting her left foot in the red zone incurring a three tenth deduction for direction as well as a deduction for her step. Payson could tell from Aly's face that the girl was far from impressed. Her coach Mihai Breystan was not on the floor but was instead standing off to the side, Aly walked over to him to discuss her performance.

Payson had not even seen Aly's vault. Her eyes were closed tightly and she was visualising the ideal vault. She could see her quick run towards the vault and her handspring as she hit the springboard. She saw herself planting her hands on the vault table and pushing off to get enough height to get her two and a half twists around. Her legs were glued together in the air, her toes pointed. She didn't pike her body to ensure rotation, instead she stayed straight until right before landing when she separated her legs slightly and bent her knees to absorb the impact. Payson felt a sting on landing but that was normal, she stuck her vault and saluted the judges. This was the mental preparation required to have a perfect vault.

Payson opened her eyes just in time to see Kelly falter on her double twisting Yurchenko. She had used too much power and hadn't been able to control it, she took two massive steps to try and save it but in the end she was forced to put her hands down which counted as a fall. The fall would be a whole point in deductions, Payson was just happy that the format of qualifications was four athletes up with the three highest scores counting towards the team total. She was now going to go and set things right.

Payson stood at the end of the runway and waited to get the green light meaning she was clear to vault. She had to wait until the judges posted the score for Kelly's vault. The arena was bustling; the crowd was cheering for their personal favourites, the athletes cheering on their own, the loudspeakers announcing the competitors, the coaches giving advice, praise and consolation to athletes. Payson heard none of this; she just stood waiting for the green light going over her vault again and again.

The green light flashed and she saluted the judges. Then she ran towards the vault at full speed. She used the springboard to launch her up onto the vault. From there she pushed herself off of and away from the horse. Then she performed her two and a half twists with precision, the only mistake coming when her ankles crossed slightly on the last half twist. However, she landed on the centre line with only a tiny hop meaning that she left herself open to very few deductions. Payson saluted the judges smiling happily. It felt so good to be back competing on the international stage, to hear people applauding her performance. She just couldn't help but feel so happy to be there, representing her country and making herself, her family, her coach and her country proud.

Payson hopped down from the podium and received a huge hug from Sasha who was waiting there for her. "A great start Pay," he told her, smiling as he released her from the hug, "watch your ankles in the air and we'll sort the hop out later. Keep it up Payson." Payson nodded smiling at him.

She then went to her teammates who had been cheering her on despite the fact she couldn't even hear them. They hugged her and congratulated her on a great vault. Kelly seemed to be filled with a hunger for redemption and as such appeared ready to move to the next apparatus. It was Lauren who grabbed Payson's arm when her score flashed up on the board. Payson was a little shocked to see the 16.000 she'd received. She'd gotten the same score for her vault at world championship trials but the American's were notoriously over scored at home, to receive it again was validation for Payson. Also the fact that she'd received a 9.5 execution score was amazing as execution scores, even on vault, were rarely above a nine.

Payson turned around to watch McKayla's first vault, the amanar. It was wonderfully executed in the way that only the girl who would surely be crowned World Champion on vault could. She was sky high getting great distance and height from the vault. Her form in the air was impeccable and she landed right in the middle of the landing mat, on the line that marked the centre. She took a small step but Payson couldn't see any other deductions but she had no doubt that the judges would find a deduction somewhere.

The score took a while to be posted. During this time McKayla adjusted her grips and prepared for her Rudi. As soon as her score was posted she got the green light, she didn't check her score she just went for it, once again nailing her vault. She took a big step on the landing but smiled widely as she saluted the judges, McKayla's work was done, that was all that she would be doing for the US team today.

Once everyone else was finished the girls moved to their next apparatus, the uneven bars. Payson was the team anchor on this event, meaning that she would be competing last as she was expected to post the highest score for team USA. Aly would be up first, she was weak on bars but she was one of the girls that was in contention for an All Around spot on the team. Now that Kelly had put her hands down on her vault, Aly had a very good chance of qualifying. Shawn Johnson would go next; this would be the only apparatus that Shawn would work. The Olympic gold medallist was not in the form she'd been in in 2007 and 2008. She'd suffered a knee injury while skiing and struggled to post high scores on the four other events. Kelly would go second last, uneven bars was perhaps not Kelly's best apparatus but she was quite solid on bars boasting a 6.3 difficulty. 

The girls sprayed the bars and hung out of them checking their tension. Sasha and Marta helped to adjust them and the girls got chalked up ready to begin their warm ups. They went in order of competition. Payson rolled the ball of chalk between her grips before smacking them together, creating a cloud of excess chalk. Then she stepped up to the bars and blew on her hands to ensure they weren't too cold because if they were they ran the risk of cramping while she was swinging bars.

Payson warmed up her bars quickly, practicing her transition from high bar to low bar, the Pak salto in particular had been giving her a couple of issues in training but she had no struggle with it here. She also ran through her Gienger release which was followed by a Jaeger salto, these two releases in combination were inspired by He Kexin's uneven bar routine which took gold in Beijing. This combination also upped her difficulty value enormously. She knew she was going to hit her bars. She had a good feeling. She stood away from the bars to adjust her grips as Aly began her routine.

Payson didn't pay too much attention to Aly on bars, shouting encouragement while staring unseeingly at her friend and teammate. Beside Payson McKayla Maroney was screaming her lungs off. Aly survived her routine as best she could, it wasn't too pretty with quite a few form breaks and one or two missed handstands but she didn't fall. Her score was a 14.112, it wasn't actually a bad start for team USA.

Shawn's set was clean but unspectacular; she made sure to hit all her handstands and even stuck her double layout dismount. The issue with Shawn's bar set was that the difficulty at a 5.7 just wasn't high enough to be competitive. She scored a 14.802 for her efforts. Kelly's set was sturdier, she flew on her releases and generated great swing through out. You could tell watching her that she was more naturally suited to bars than Shawn or Aly. However her 1.5 twisting double back was a little messy but she managed to take only one small step on landing. Kelly's score was a 15.010.

The green light flashed for Payson, she blew once again on her rechalked hands before using the springboard which Sasha had ready to mount the bars. Sasha quickly hauled the springboard away so as not to incur deductions. He stepped into spot Payson on her big release moves but her needn't have because she caught the bar easily on them all. The routine was a great one, her toe point was perfect, she hit every handstand and apart from one form break on a shoot to high bar her legs remained glued together. The other minor mistake came in Payson's giants as she prepared to dismount where her legs were a little soft on the downswing. Still she hit her double twisting double double back dismount with ease, sticking the landing easily. The score posted was a 15.706, which meant Payson would be the top qualifier to the uneven bar final as this was the last qualification heat, providing Italy or the mixed group didn't post a higher score.

On beam the girls excelled. The beam was often regarded as one of the hardest apparatuses in gymnastics but the Americans didn't let that show. Kelly's beam was good by her standards, there was one missed connection and two balance checks one after her full turn and the other after her sheep jump. Payson's beam was clean, with no wobbles and all the connections hit, her dismount was the only dodgy part as she took a large step on landing. The routine score a 15.1 meaning that Payson scored exactly a nine for execution. Aly nailed her routine posting a 15.355 score and booking herself a place in event finals. Lauren, unsurprisingly, did likewise scoring a 15.4 the highest score of the day on balance beam.

Floor too went well for the girls. Lauren got team USA off to a good start with her lively, energetic piece scoring a 14.3. Kelly's routine had the crowd clapping and received a 14.561. Aly's floor was superb, the height she got on her passes was incredible and she received a well deserved 15. When Payson saluted the judges, the crowd knew the USA had qualified but Payson was back in robot mode and for all she knew all her teammates could've fallen on all their tumbling passes. As far as she was concerned she was fighting for her country's right to compete in the team final in two days time. However, the reason she was really there was to show the world she was back, to show them how she had managed to combine artistry with power to become a better gymnast.

Through her dance and tumbles she was going to show them how she had managed to overcome her struggles and come back stronger and better than ever before. She did just that, drawing the audience in with her wonderful routine, showing artistry that had been absent in the gymnastics of the American's since the retirement of Nastia Liukin. On the floor, Payson reminded the audience of the Russian's with her beautiful balletic style. She stuck all of her tumbling passes and nailed her turns and leaps. When Payson rose from the floor after holding her final pose when the music ended to salute the judges, for a split second the crowd was quiet, everyone was in awe of her beauty and grace. She had been the last competitor and as such everyone had been watching her. Then Payson heard the crowd roar and applaud wildly. A huge smile appeared on her face and she ran to hug her coach and rock Sasha Belov.

"All this mess, this struggle," she told him, panting as a result of her strenuous routine, "it was all so worth it. Thank you, Sasha." 

"You're welcome," he responded, whispering into her hair as he held her close. "But if you liked this wait 'til the team final and all arounds, you'll love that."

Payson pulled away slightly and smiled up at him. "I'm ready for this," she told him, "bring it on!" The two pulled apart and turned to the score board. Payson's floor had a received a 15.335. Payson squealed, she scored above a nine for execution on floor, that was practically unheard of. She beamed at the scoreboard.

"Look," Sasha told her, "look you qualified top for the all around final."

"What?" Payson asked in disbelief, searching the scoreboards for her name. "Where does it say that?" Sasha spun her around to face the board in question with the all around scores. Payson's name was at the top with a score eight tenths higher than the next qualifier Russia's Viktoria Komova. "I can't believe it," Payson whispered, "it doesn't feel real."

"Well it's real," Sasha told her, squeezing her shoulder.

Payson leaned back against his chest. "This is amazing. But what about the team Sasha, where did the team place?"

"First, we placed first Payson. We scored an 181.300, we qualified over three points ahead of Russia."

"Please tell me this isn't just a beautiful dream."

"It's reality," Sasha assured her. "Go be with your team Payson, I'm sure they're dying to celebrate that floor routine."

Payson smiled at the man who stood behind her and rushed to her teammates pulling them all into a messy group hug. "This is the best feeling ever," she told the girls as she hugged them, "this might just be quals but I have a good feeling."

Just like that Payson Keeler was back.

**AN: So leave a review with your thoughts… Reviews equal a new chapter by Sunday!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Here's a long chapter for you…**

**I have the next chapter written and waiting.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

The Keelers had watched the entire competition in their living room, cheering on Payson, Lauren and the rest of the team USA girls. Becca's friends from the gym Kyla and Maddie had come along too as had Summer, who had recently broken up with Lauren's father, Steve Tanner. Kim couldn't help but be a mixed bag of emotions as she watched Payson, on one hand she was terrified that Payson would injure herself once again and on the other hand she was filled with immense pride for her daughter and her achievements. The whole room had grown tense when team USA had begun their rotation. Aly had vaulted first and then Payson had been up. NBC had shown a close up of Payson right before her vault and Tim Dagget had called her the 'comeback kid' and the 'terminator'. Even thousands of miles away, Kim could see the change, she noticed the glint in her eye, the intensity of her stare; some of the old Payson was back. In her eyes Kim could see that confidence and determination which had made her great.

When Payson hit four clean routines and finished the competition injury free, Kim was filled with even more pride, if that's possible and intense relief. Of course she was thrilled that team USA had won but she was delighted to see that Payson was happy and that much was clear from her daughter's face as she received her medal on the podium. All of the sacrifices to get to that point had been worth it, as far as Kim was concerned. She would make double the sacrifices again just to see such joy and life in her daughters face. As the national anthem cried Payson shed a few tears and Kim unconsciously did the same.

Rebecca Keeler sat on her couch beaming from ear to ear. She couldn't help but delight in her sister's success. Payson had always been the one who'd taken gymnastics seriously, Becca had seen it as an opportunity to have fun and make friends. One thing they both had in common however was a love of the sport. Becca watched her sister receive her gold medal and it was at that moment that she decided that she too wanted to be part of something like that. She decided that she'd like to try her hand at elite gymnastics and maybe one day represent her country. She knew that at thirteen she was a little old to make such decisions but Payson had shown her time and time again that once you put your mind to something you can achieve it.

OOO

Standing on a podium with a gold medal hanging around your neck was one of the best feelings in the world, Payson thought. Getting to share that moment with your five teammates only made that moment so much sweeter. As the national anthem played, Payson held her hand over her heart and felt a tear roll down her cheek. It was of course a tear of happiness, she thought of all the sacrifices she and her family made to get her to this point and at that moment they all felt worth it. It had been a struggle to get there, she'd had to fight tooth and nail to get on that podium but now she was there. Now she was a World Champion gymnast.

As the national anthem finished a roar went up in the crowd as they applauded the medal winners. The USA had taken gold, Russia silver and China the bronze. The stadium was buzzing with energy, much of the crowd were on their feet applauding. From every angle their seemed to be the flash of a camera or a pleased fan draped in their countries flag.

It was a little surreal to be there for Payson. For her the entire medal ceremony had been dreamlike, she was just so overwhelmed with it all. She knew that she and the team deserved their places on the top of the podium. Their performances had not been flawless. Lauren had a few uncharacteristic wobbles on the beam and Shawn had struggled on bars. Despite this they had still beaten Russia by over two points. The Russian team had been disappointed that they had not been able to take advantage of team USA's mistakes and had been crying upon the posting of the final scores.

Payson waved to the crowd before she stepped down from the podium to allow the press to take pictures. The teams were paraded around the stadium bouquets in hand and medals hanging around their necks. Payson smiled and stood close to her teammates, each of them showing off their new accessory – a shiny, new World Championship gold medal. Being there in the middle of this was a far cry from lying in a hospital bed just months before being told she'd never do gymnastics again and would spend the rest of her life in a back brace. Payson felt truly blessed, it was miracle that she was there at all.

OOO

Sasha watched Payson and the rest of the girls as they had their picture taken and he was so proud of them all, especially Payson. She was the little engine that could and she'd made it back. It was such a sweet victory for him, in just a year coaching two of his girls to world championship gold. While he often felt that he'd failed the girls, seeing Lauren and Payson achieving such success he knew that he was doing the right thing by coaching them. He'd often considered running away, hoping that another coach could do better by them, after all he'd failed all four of the girls in turn, but in spite of all that had happened he'd managed to get two of them here. Now he was hell bent on getting Kaylie and Emily to London.

OOO

Payson had just finished a TV interview with NBC Sports when someone taped her on the shoulder. Payson spun around to see Nastia Liukin, the 2008 Olympic all around champion, in front of her. Nastia looked really good; her long blonde hair was wavy and softly framed her gorgeous face. She was wearing a white shirt and blue jeans with large white stars on them. On her feet were expensive looking high heeled boots. Time had certainly been kind to Nastia Liukin, in 2008 she was certainly very pretty but now over three years on she was supermodel material.

Payson was slightly shocked to see Nastia there, she knew she shouldn't be because Nastia had told her that she'd be at World Championships to cheer on the team but even still, Nastia wasn't the first person Payson had expected to see.

"Well congrats Pay," Nastia had exclaimed pulling her into a tight hug, she pulled away and grasped Payson's shoulders. "You did amazing, seriously!"

"Thanks Nastia, it's amazing to see you. How are you?"

"I'm great thanks Payson, a little exhausted, I got here yesterday and I'm not great with jet lag."

"I know the feeling," Payson replied smiling.

"Are you excited for All Arounds on Sunday?" Nastia asked Payson, referring to the individual All Around final that Payson would be competing in.

Payson grinned and nodded in response to her question. "I'm excited and nervous but I cant wait. You'll be there to watch it right?"

"Of course I'll be there to cheer you an Aly on. It's still kind of strange to be watching it, I have to say. I feel helpless in the stands like I wish I was down with you guys." Payson found her comment to be slightly cryptic.

"Do you miss it?"

"Competing or gymnastics?" Nastia asked looking around as if surveying the crowd. Payson did the same, she noticed very little except for Sasha, Lauren and Kelly talking about ten feet away and Shawn and Aly who were taking their opportunity to talk to NBC.

"Both."

"Well I let you in on a secret, I've been back training under the radar for a while back at WOGA, I'm going to announce my comeback tonight actually. I'd like to finally win that bars gold that I lost on a tie breaker to He Kexin. I hear He is making a comeback so beating her, _if_ I make the team, would be icing on the cake."

It went over Payson's head that Nastia would be essentially hijacking the media attention with her comeback announcement, she was more curious about why Nastia had decided to make her comeback so late. Also at her age it was quite unusual to still be competing. Nastia would be twenty-three by the time the team went to London. Gymnastics was one of the few sports where women reached their peak in their teens, usually about sixteen years of age. As a result most gymnasts retired by the age of twenty. "Do you think you have enough time?" Payson asked both a little shocked and sceptical. "I mean Olympic trials are at the end of June?"

"I think I'll be okay, I've been back training for three months and it's been tough trying to regain the skills but I'm getting there. You managed a comeback after all."

Their private conversation ended when Shawn arrived over. It was no secret inside the world of gymnastics that the two of them didn't really get on very well. They exchanged pleasantries as was expected and then Shawn proceeded to introduce the rest of the team. The media spotted the clump of American gymnasts chatting to Nastia and decided that it was a perfect photo opportunity. After the media attention fizzled out finally Marta Karolyi started to talk to Nastia so Payson never got an opportunity to finish talking to her.

OOO

The mood in the hotel that evening was one of celebration. The girls all had dinner together and watched _Stick It_, the only movie made about gymnastics. It was definitely one of, if not, Payson's favourite movie. She'd seen it dozens of times since its release in 2006. It never got old as far as she was concerned and also the girls fight to control the system in the movie reminded her of the Rock's rebellion against Ellen Beals and NGO when they'd invited the Chinese team to compete at the Rock.

When the movie ended none of the girls wanted to leave Aly and McKayla's room. They all lay around on the floor and bed respectively joking around. Then the topic turned to grilling Shawn for stories of the Beijing Olympics. Shawn was more than willing to give them the details on what it was like in China. The most fun perhaps was her story the shenanigans that took place in the Olympic village.

"Okay, so the entire team was on lock down as we were the entire time in the village. You could see the partying from the window but there was no way we were allowed to get involved in that. I was sharing with Nastia and we had a balcony so we'd go out on the balcony at night some times and just watch what was going on. So anyway the night after the opening ceremony, Nastia was going to sleep early because we had quals the next day, I wasn't quite ready for bed so I headed out onto the balcony for some fresh air. So I was staring out at the party going on below me when I heard someone cal my name."

"You could literally see people partying on the grass underneath you?" Kelly asked amused.

"Yeh," Shawn replied nonchalantly, "the athlete's village isn't called party town for no reason. Everyone arrive there after years of hard work so who blames them if they want to let loose a little. So any way I looked up and there was an athlete, who's name will be kept secret, on the balcony above me. So we chatted for a bit and I managed to get him to go get me some _Snickers_. I am literally addicted to _Snickers_ bars, I don't know why but I love them. Marta had been on our backs so there was no chance of me getting my own _Snickers_ and I hadn't thought to bring any with me. So our arrangement continued through out the week and a bit of competition, he'd bring me chocolate and we'd talk. After competition was over we met up and we even dated for a while but it didn't work out geographically when we got back to home, he lived on the other side of the country."

"So you dated him, that was how you got the chocolate?" Kelly remarked.

Shawn hit Kelly a few times with the nearest pillow and Kelly Parker giggled. "I don't like what you're implying Parks that I'm some kind of chocolate whore," Shawn chuckled. Payson wasn't sure what was weirder, the fact that Kelly Parker had giggled or that Shawn and Kelly seemed really close. Payson observed that their personalities complimented each others' nicely. Shawn was sunny and chirpy while Kelly was more withdrawn and snarky but with a softer side that Payson was seeing more and more of.

Soon Kelly had found her own pillow and a full scale pillow fight ensued with all of the girls partaking, relishing the time to just be carefree teenagers. When these girls represented their country in competition it was easy to forget that apart from Shawn that they were all under the age of eighteen. Being athletes they had the stamina to keep the pillow fight raging for well over the average time but despite this they all succumbed to laughter only minutes in and found themselves once again lying on the bed or floor this time clutching their sides.

"Guys," Payson said, "we're world champions." At that moment the girls began to realise just how special this was. Payson gazed up at the white ceiling, it was a pretty incredible title to hold.

"Yeh," Aly said wistfully, "I guess we are."

"It hasn't sunk in yet," McKayla said, "I don't think it will for a while."

"When we get back home, it will" Shawn assured them. "When you get off that plane and see your family and friends, it'll feel real, believe me."

"We're the best in the world," Lauren declared happily sitting up and grabbing her camera, I think a picture is appropriate. The girls all shifted and squeezed together while Lauren set the timer on her camera and jumped into the shot. The moment they realised that they were the best in the world was immortalised in a photograph.

**AN: The next chapter is written and waiting, I'll post it soon. Reviews are the best way to make me update quickly ;)**

**What was your favourite Olympic gymnastics moment?**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Yes I am aware it's been forever! To anyone affected by Sandy, stay safe, you're in my thoughts.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

Chapter 11

Payson was ready. Now was the time. This was her time to prove to the world that she was back and better than ever. She was ready to show the world that this new and improved Payson Keeler was the best gymnast in the world.

She adjusted her bun adding two extra clips and spraying it with hair spray. Her bun was well secured and wouldn't get in her way during the competition. She also added a purple scrunchie to match her leotard. All of her heavy makeup was done, except for her lipstick which she now carefully applied. Aly had done Payson's eye makeup for her. She had used brown and gold tones effectively so that they appeared understated but that actually emphasized Payson's eyes.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She adored her leotard for this All Around competition. She had ordered it from the special order section of GK elite online especially for the occasion. It was purple unsurprisingly, the sleeves were purple mesh and the bodice was a solid purple material. The top half of the bodice was decorated with lines of rhinestones which crisscrossed. Rhinestones were also randomly positioned on the mesh sleeves and ran in a line along the point where the bodice joined the mesh.

The sleeves were three quarter length and had cuffs that were not mesh but that were made of the same material as the bodice of the leotard they too had a sprinkling of rhinestones. Normally Payson wasn't a huge fan of the overuse of rhinestones but as the leotard itself was understated she felt it worked. On her left shoulder was a small circle of stars and inside it was written USA. On the other shoulders there were two badges attached and these were the team sponsors. Payson was pleased with her appearance, she felt ready.

Payson looked to her left where Aly was perfecting her hair and securing it with a scrunchie. Aly was wearing red. She had opted to wear a red Adidas leotard, it was simple. The main body of the leotard was a vibrant red and was decorated by three right stripes which started on the bodice below the left shoulder and curved smoothly around to meet Aly's right leg. Red was a really good colour on Aly as it complimented both her skin tone and her hair.

"Want some lipstick?" Payson asked Aly, holding up the lipstick she'd just used. Aly smiled and accept the lipstick. She applied her lip liner carefully and then applied the red lipstick.

"Thanks," she said handing the lipstick back to Payson before rummaging in her kit bag for her iPhone. "I think we should take a picture, not that I think we'll forget, it'll just be nice to have." Payson nodded understanding. This was a big deal for both girls. Neither of them had ever competed in a competition of this scale before. Also, as of the start of the year neither of them expected to. Payson was seriously injured and Aly's very dodgy uneven bars sets were making it unlikely that either of them would make it this far. Even before they left the United States, Aly hadn't expected to compete. She had expected that Payson and Kelly would fill the two all around spots. If it hadn't been for Kelly's fall on vault that's exactly how it would've played out as Aly finished just two tenths ahead of Kelly in the standings.

The girls had ten minutes until they were to proceed to the practice gym for warm ups so they spent that time in the cramped dressing room snapping funny, serious and just plain stupid pictures to remember the trip by.

Marta knocked at the door shortly after to inform the girls that it was time to go for warm ups. They gathered all of their stuff and stuffed it into their bulky, navy, team USA gym bags which they slung over their shoulders. Just as Payson was about to leave the room she turned to Aly and smiled. "I'm about to turn into what Lauren calls 'Robot Payson' so I'm going to take this opportunity to say good luck, I know that you'll kill it out there Aly."

"Good luck Payson but you don't need it, you will rock this!" Aly pulled Payson into a tight hug that lasted about thirty seconds. She pulled back and looked at Payson beaming. "One, two?" she asked.

"One, two," Payson echoed in response.

OOO

When Payson and Aly entered the stadium the crowd was buzzing. The stands were about half full which was about average for the Artistic Gymnastics World Championship. Gymnastics was the most watched sport at the Olympics but during the four year gaps between the Olympic Games the number of fans plummeted. All the same Payson could feel the energy bouncing off the crowd as they were cheering her on.

The girls lined up in front of a table of judges who would be scoring vault. Aly and Payson stood side by side as they saluted the judges. To Payson's left was Viktoria Komova of Russia who had been the second highest qualifier to this All Around final. She was quite tall at five foot one, her leotard was hot pink and decorated with six black lines which started at her shoulder, the lines intersected, three of them going to her left leg and the other three to her right. Komova's hair was tied back in a ponytail but her fringe was left loose. In Payson's opinion Komova looked tired as if the previous two days of competition had been too much for her. Payson was aware that she'd been dealing with a severe ankle injury and she hadn't been able to compete for almost a year.

Komova was a typical Russian gymnast; she had wonderful grace and artistry in all of her routines. Her main fault was that she wasn't a fighter; if things weren't going her way she'd just give up. Payson had seen some videos of her routines and she was reminded of Nastia Liukin as she watched her. Viktoria Komova was the youth Olympic Champion and she'd posted the highest All Around score ever scored in international competition. If Komova performed today she would be one of the biggest threats to Payson's hopes of taking home the gold. 

Next to Komova stood her teammate, Ksenia Afanasyeva. The blonde girl was a veteran, now nineteen years of age she'd competed for Russia in the Beijing Olympics. She was wonderful on both floor and beam but Payson doubted she'd be a big threat. Afanasyeva struggled with consistency in major competitions and Payson wouldn't be surprised if she struggled here too.

Yao Jinnan stood next Aly. She was representing China. This tiny gymnast was a fist year senior and as such she had not had a huge amount of international experience. Of course, Payson knew it would be unwise to underestimate her, she had qualified in third place one tenth of a point ahead of Aly. Yao was very strong on bars and beam and she was tipped to take an individual medal of both in event finals. She boasted high difficulty in all of her routines as well as wonderful precision in her execution of every skill she performed.

Beside Yao stood Huang Qiushang. She'd been chosen as a last minute substitution for China in place of Genghi who had fractured her wrist when she fell on floor during yesterday's training session. Huang was known in the gymnastics world for her inconsistency, when she hit she was brilliant but she rarely hit al four of her routines. Like Komova she lacked fighting spirit. Fighting spirit was something that Payson did not lack; she had fought to recover in time for worlds and no matter what happened she was not going to fall.

Payson reckoned that after today Huang would have made a name for herself as owner of one of the worst leotards ever worn on an international stage. The leo itself was mainly a shiny white material but the right arm was a green colour and part of the came around her neck and jutted out into the white section on the left side of the leotard. In the centre was an oval shape of nude material which bordered the green area. Then as if to make matters worse on the green bit on the left were two massive orange lotuses decorated with a healthy sprinkling of rhinestones. There were also seemingly random squiggly lines of pink and yellow all over the left hand side of the leotard. Payson could understand the Huang was using the lotuses as a symbol of China but the leotard itself just didn't work. To top it off Payson thought this was perhaps the first time she'd ever seen a Chinese gymnast not wearing red.

Payson realised that she was allowing herself to be distracted by her surroundings so she snapped back to robot mode. Just before she did she smirked slightly, perhaps Huang's leo was her secret weapon, meant to distract the other competitors and break their focus. Payson wasn't about to let that happen to her, she was there to win.

Payson's warm up vault went smoothly. She had slightly crossed her ankles in the air and hadn't even attempted to stick her landing, in order to protect her knees. Sasha had told her to just keep doing what she'd been doing all along. That was exactly what she was going to do, she couldn't control the other competitors or the judges but she could control herself.

Payson was last up to vault. She checked the tape around her ankle was secure and when she was sure it was she went to stand next to Sasha. Today Sasha was only there in his capacity as her personal coach, Aly was being coached by her club coach Mihai Breystan. Today, Payson was Sasha's first priority. Payson's eyes were closed as she visualised the perfect vault. Beside her Sasha stood watching the other athletes in Payson's rotation vaulting. The two of them stood side by side, not talking or communicating in any way. Being near Sasha made Payson feel calm and although he'd never admit it to himself being near Payson calmed Sasha also.

Yao landed her double twisting Yurchenko and Sasha tapped Payson on the shoulder, she was up next. Payson opened her eyes slowly and looked to her coach. Sasha merely nodded to her and Payson knew what that meant, 'you're up next'. Coach and athlete walked towards the end of the vault runway their legs moving in perfect synchronization. To any observer it might have looked like Sasha was reminding Payson of thing she needed to remember but instead he was reminding her that this competition was hers to lose. He was reminding her that she _was_ the best and that this was her time.

As they reached the end of the podium, Viktoria Komova was given the green light to vault. She raced down the runway and threw a clean double twisting Yurchenko. Payson's back had been to her so once again she'd seen nothing. She had no idea what her competitors had done in this rotation and she wouldn't look at the score board until after her vault.

Payson stepped up onto the podium and stood at the end of the runway. She wouldn't be able to vault until Komova's score was posted. Payson was used to having to wait for her turn in competition. The wait often threw gymnasts off but Payson actually liked it. It gave her the opportunity to run through her routine once more.

The green light flashed and Payson took a deep breath, the key was not to rush yourself. Many saw the light and freaked out. Payson took her time. She saluted the judges and then looked down the runway at her target, the vaulting table. She rocked onto her toes and ran at the vault. She performed her back handspring onto the springboard, she used the springboard to launch herself onto the vault and then she hit the table pushing off immediately. She started her two and a half twists all the while her legs and ankles were glued together. Payson bent her knees upon landing to absorb the impact. She fought to stick the vault, staying with her knees bent until she was certain that she wouldn't move. Then she straightened up and saluted the judges triumphantly. It was really difficult to believe that two months ago she couldn't even do this vault, now she was throwing it with great precision and ease.

Payson leapt down from the podium and threw herself into Sasha's arms, burying her head in his chest. The blonde Romanian-British coach hugged her tightly brimming with pride. He kissed the top of her head. He would've spoken words of congratulations but he knew that his hug conveyed such feelings. Payson pulled away and smiled brightly at him, her breathing rate still slightly above average.

"Good job," he told her, smiling himself, brimming with pride as he looked at her. Payson just nodded at him and walked to her bag to get her grips on for the uneven bars. On her way she passed Aly who pulled her in for a hug as did Aly's coach Mihai. She even got a high-five from Huang and hug from Yao. Komova gave her a sort of half-smile and Afanasyeva gave her a nod and smile.

Payson sat down and grabbed the top of her warm ups, throwing it on over her leo, she didn't want to get cold while she waited. She quickly glanced up at the scoreboard but still her score wasn't there. Then she rooted around in her bag until she found her navy grip bag, she took her grips out and put her them on. The vault was traditionally the fastest piece of apparatus and the floor the slowest so she had time. Just before she began to adjust the straps of her grips she looked up at the score board.

VT UB BB FX Total Gap

1. Keeler, Payson (USA) 16.0 16.0 -0.00

2. Porgras, Ana (ROM) 15.276 15.276 -0.724

3. Raisman, Alexandra (USA) 15.266 15.266 -0.734

4. Komova, Viktoria (RUS) 15.2 15.2 -0.8

5. Afanasyeva, Ksenia (RUS) 15.0 15.0 -1.00

6. Yao, Jinnan (CHN) 14.996 14.966 -1.034

6. Huang, Qiushang (CHN) 14.996 14.966 -1.034

The scoreboard itself was not hugely surprising; Ana Porgras was the only athlete who'd managed to break into the top six. Porgras was Romanian and had qualified in seventh place behind Huang. Balance beam and floor were traditionally Romania's best events but uneven bars were a weakness for them. Porgras was Romania's best bar worker but even still she was not quite as comfortable on bars as Payson, the Chinese or the Russians.

Payson had a solid lead but this was because she was the only one who had vaulted an amanar. Both Komova and Aly had performed the amanar in previous competitions but both had opted not to use it today. Komova wasn't doing it because she couldn't get enough speed with her ankle and Aly wasn't quite comfortable with the vault yet.

Shortly after, it was announced that it was time for the athletes to move to their next rotation. Payson carried her gym bag and followed the line of girls in her rotation to the uneven bars. Each of them were given thirty seconds to warm up, each athlete took advantage of this opportunity, practicing their skills and testing the bars' tension.

Payson would be second in the rotation to swing bars. Ksenia Afanasyeva would be ahead of her. Payson once again ran through her routine in her mind, carefully hitting each handstand perfectly, keeping her legs glued together and pointing her toes beautifully. When Sasha gently tapped her on the shoulder she was ready.

Payson stepped up onto the podium and began to test the bars' tension while Sasha adjust them. Aly joined them spraying the bars for Payson. It took them very little time to do this; Afanasyeva's score hadn't even been posted when they finished. Aly returned to her seat to prep for her routine, Payson carefully chalked her hands and Sasha positioned the spring board for Payson's mount.

Payson took a deep breath when she saw the green light, this was the moment to strengthen her lead even further. Payson used the springboard to launch herself up over the low bar onto the high bar where she began to swing. Once she atarted her routine her muscle memory took over, almost guiding her through the routine she'd done this in practice hundreds if not thousands of time. She focused on making everything as perfect as it could be, watching the bar closely and making sure to catch it on her release moves.

There were a few minor issues like a leg separation on her shoot to high bar and a loss of toe point on her Shaposhnikova. Disaster hit on the dismount. Payson's dismount was a double twisting double back; it was one of the toughest dismounts in the code of points. She over rotated the dismount meaning she landed very low, her knees very nearly touché the mat but she managed to take three huge steps to save it. It wasn't a fall but it wasn't good. Payson plastered a smile on her face and saluted the judges. One less-than-perfect dismount was not going to derail her quest for gold.

Sasha hugged Payson as she stepped down from the podium but Payson didn't return it. Her mind was elsewhere, rehearsing a perfect beam set that would put her back on top. Payson made her way to her bag and sat down without even seeing where she was going. She removed her grips without knowing she was doing so. Robot Payson was out in full force.

Even after a disappointing bars set, where she only posted a 14.9 Payson still held a lead of one tenth of a point over her closest challenger Viktoria Komova who occupied second place. Komova had performed wonderfully on bars posting the highest bar score of the day thus far, a 15.6. Yao Jinnan was also in contention after her score of 15.433 on bars. Aly had had a disastrous bar set with a fall on her Tkachev release. As a result, she'd had to swallow a score of 13.005 which dropped her from second into tenth place and presumably ended her hopes of winning a medal.

Aly was first up on beam, this was a real test of nerves for her. She was a natural beam worker but after a fall the last place anyone wanted to go was to the beam. Aly performed admirably. She attacked the beam ferociously as it daring it to try and make her fall, she did not so much as wobble once and she nailed her Patterson dismount, sticking it. She proudly saluted the judges. Aly was rewarded for her wonderful routine with a 14.996, which would work wonders for her place in the scoreboard.

Payson mechanically applauded each routine, she'd be up fifth. She had completely blocked everyone else out. She did not see the damage the beam was doing to the scores of her competitors; Afanasyeva, Yao and Huang had all fallen. Had Payson seen their struggles it might have thrown her off but she didn't so when she stepped up to the beam to salute she was ready to fight for her place on top of the medal podium.

Payson had to fight throughout her routine, she had a few small balance checks and a rather large wobble on her turn with her leg up but the main thing was she'd survived her weakest event without a fall. When the score was posted she nodded to herself – 14.8- she would probably lose her lead but she was much stronger than Komova on floor. She knew if she performed to her full capabilities on floor she could take the title.

They went into the last rotation with Viktoria Komova occupying first place, Komova had scored a 15.216 on beam meaning that she held a lead of over three tenths over Payson. Both girls knew that it was still all to play for. Payson's floor routine had a difficulty score that was three tenths higher than Komova's.

Komova was second last to compete on floor, Payson decided not to watch. She didn't want to have a score that she _had _ to get in her mind. She just wanted to go out there and give the best performance on floor that she'd ever given. Payson wasn't sure how she managed it but she blocked out Komova's floor music completely and did more mental rehearsal. Payson knew that when she walked onto the floor that she would have to use her routine to tell her story, it was time once again to let the audience feel every emotion she'd felt in this last year.

Sasha tapped her on the shoulder when Komova had finished. Payson looked up at him and said "this is for you Sasha." She climbed up on the podium and waited once again for the green flag. Komova's score was posted and she was given the sign to begin. She saluted and stepped onto the floor and took her opening position.

Swan Lake began to play and Payson began to dance. She preformed the routine with such emotion that it captured the audience's attention and drew them in. The routine itself was a little messier than usual, she stepped out of bounds on her Arabian two and a half punch front and she fell out of her double pirouette with her leg up. Even still, it was a beautiful routine. Payson saluted the judges, a tear in her eye, when she finished, she was a walking talking ball of emotion right now.

She jumped down from the podium and ran to where Sasha, Aly, Mihai and Marta were waiting for her. She hugged Sasha first, not caring that her steady stream of tears were drenching his t-shirt or that her mascara was running. Payson hugged Marta next; the Romanian national co-ordinator pulled away and held her face. "You deserve it Payson, you were the best." Still her score had not been posted, next she got a hug from Mihai.

Then she got a huge hug from Aly. "Pay, you were incredible, you are incredible!"

"Thanks Aly," she whispered back before pulling away.

"You need to stop crying," Aly said, "you'll want to look pretty for the cameras."

"Sorry," Payson chuckled wiping her eyes.

Over a minute had passed but still no score had been posted for Payson's floor exercise. The American delegation stood together all eyes fixed on the scoreboard. Payson was holding Aly's hand and leaning against Sasha chest, Payson's other handheld Sasha tightly, their fingers intertwined as they waited in anticipation of her score. As they stood there waiting, every second felt like a year, Sasha was ready to go and scream at the judges when Payson's score flashed up – a 15.133.

Payson let out a squeak of disbelief. Aly hugged Payson once again; happy despite the fact that Payson's score had knocked her off the podium into fourth place. Sasha jumped into the air, doing something akin to whooping and fist pumping. Marta was cheering and clapping. When Aly and Payson stopped hugging, Sasha piked Payson up and spun her round like a child before kissing her on the forehead.

"I'm so proud of you Payson," he told her sincerely when he set her down, his eyes boring into hers, looking deep inside her, "you inspire me."

"I need to call my mom," was the first thing that came out of Payson's mouth.

"You should probably get your medal first," Sasha suggested.

"Fair point," Payson conceded.

"Also, you should get up on the podium and wave to the crowd," Marta told her.

"I'm going to go and shake Komova's hand first." She went to do just that, the Russian girl was in such a state crying that she hardly realised Payson was there. Payson could understand it, Komova had worked really hard for this and silver was not the medal she had wanted to leave Tokyo with. In fairness, when Payson attempted to shake Komova's hand, the girl slowly obliged.

Once she had done that Payson stepped up onto the podium to wave to the crowd.

Payson glanced up at the scoreboard once more as she waved to the audience; it was still hard to believe that she was the World All Around Champion.

Keeler, Payson (USA) 60.833

Komova, Viktoria (RUS) 60.466

Yao, Jinnan (CHN) 59.188

Raisman, Alexandra (USA) 58.267

Porgras, Ana (ROM) 57.967

Afanasyeva, Ksenia (RUS) 57.838

Huang, Quishang (CHN) 57.451

Seeing her name at the top was such a special feeling, she couldn't help but smile widely. When the gold medal was hung once more around her neck and her national anthem was played she cried tears of joy. Just under a year ago a doctor had told her she'd never do gymnastics again and here she was, world champion. Payson had overcome all of the odds and she owed her success to her family who financed her surgery and provided her with love and support and to Sasha Belov, her coach and the man she loved, even if such love was forbidden and wasn't reciprocated.

**AN: Best Olympic moment in My opinion? Aliya Mustafina's gold on bars. She's come back against all the odds. If her ACL injury had never happened she probably would've taken the All Around title.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Its short and it hasn't been proofed but I'd finished my study for the day and wanted to do a little writing. After yesterday's world cup in Glasgow I was in the mood to continue this fic :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 12**

Payson's return to the US after the World Championships had been a bit of a whirlwind. She was shocked by the interested she and the rest of the world team had attracted over the last two weeks pretty much since their plane had landed on American soil. Payson had made numerous television appearances including the today shows, given interviews to magazines and to multiple gymnastics blogs and had been on the cover of _Inside Gymnastics_, America's biggest gymnastics publication. Those two weeks touring the country and showing off her three, shiny, gold medals, along with her uneven bar silver had been amazing. She'd had an amazing time with her teammates but now she was just glad to be back in Boulder.

Payson opted to wait for her mom to bring her and Becca to the gym in the car. On any other day she probably would've walked or ran to the gym but it felt like forever since she'd seen her sister and her mom. Her dad had pick her up from the airport at eleven pm the previous evening and her mom had only been half awake when she'd gotten home and Payson herself had only been running on fumes. Payson looked at herself in the mirror, adjusting her purple shirt so the straps of her leo was hidden. She looked tired, which she was.

Payson tied her hair back into a half-bun-half-ponytail and grabbed her beaten-up-but-much-loved green hoodie before venturing downstairs. The November chill had hit across the country and Boulder, Colorado was no exception. Payson shivered despite her extra layer as she made her way across the landing. She padded quietly down the stairs, not yet knowing if anyone else was up. As such she was surprised to find Becca fully dressed at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Her younger sister leapt up to embrace Payson the moment she saw her.

"You were awesome Pay, like seriously unbelievable," Becca said pulling away from the older girl. Payson noticed that something was different about Becca, there was some new glint of determination in the young blonde's eye. She could also tell that Becca was bursting to tell her something.

"I'd talk about me," Payson said as she moved over to the other side of the kitchen to fill the kettle, "but I have a feeling you have something to tell me."

Becca chuckled, she knew well that before her injury Payson would've been so caught up in herself that she never would've noticed. Now Payson was probably one of the most observant people she knew. "I'm going elite," Becca spat out so quickly and with so much enthusiasm the words almost got jumbled together and Payson had to ask her to repeat herself.

"I'm testing elite this season. I talked to mom about and we talked to Sasha about it when he got back from Tokyo while you were off doing publicity stuff. And he said if I wanted to give it ago he'd be more than happy to let me train with the elite group. My first qualifier is in Janurary.

Payson frowned so intensely that it seemed to Becca as I her eyes were almost knitted together, "wait, what?" she asked.

"Yeah I know, mom had the same reaction at first. I never had that same drive you had as you were going up through the JO program and I only barely made it to JO nationals last year because I choked at regionals but as I was watching you compete in the team finals, I decided that I really wanted to be part of something like that. I mean I doubt I'll make an Olympic or World team but I love to make the national team and maybe compete at an international meet or two."

"Do you really want to do this Bex, I mean you know from watching me that it isn't always plain sailing."

"Yeah I get that, I'm ready for whatever life has to throw at me. Watching you and the team compete that day awakened something in me and now I have a goal I desperately want to fulfil."

"So long as you want it I'm happy for you," Payson said, pouring herself some tea, from the pot she'd been brewing as the conversed. "Tea?" Payson asked, brandishing the teapot and a spare mug with a bright orange cat on it.

Becca screwed up her face in disgust, "I hate herbal tea."

"Well at least something didn't change while I was gone."

"Hey I didn't change," Becca huffed, "I just had a realisation is all!"

Payson brushed her off with a hand gesture and walked over to the table to deposit her mug full of tea and her bowl of cereal. She really wasn't supposed eat cereal per se but every now and then she deviated from her stringent diet. She was well aware that a bowl of cereal wouldn't make a difference today but on an ongoing basis she shouldn't really consume that many carbs for breakfast.

Payson took her seat across from Becca and smiled at her sister, genuinely happy for her. "I don't think we ever talked about it before, because you never really took gymnastics too seriously but Becca, you have a lot of talent if you put your mind too it your definitely national team material."

"And there are plenty of college scouts at Visas."

"Yes there are."

With that their conversation was drawn to a close as Kim walked in fully dressed and began to talk to Payson about the rollercoaster ride that had been Tokyo. Payson discussed the topic only but kept her breakdown and her revelations about her relationship with Sasha to herself.

**No one reviewed last time but it'd be awesome if even one of you review today, it seriously makes my day!**


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